
Class JL£l34- 

t s a a t auu ) 



SMITHSOi\L\X DEPOSIT. 



picWrial 
HISTORY OF FRANCE 



N E M A N D Y, 

FROM THE EARLEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT THE; 

WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE REVOLUTION, AND THE 
SEVERAL REBELLIONS OF 1848. 

BY W. C* TAYLOR, LL.D. 

OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 
AUTHOK OF MANUAL OF ANCIENT AND MODEHN HISTOHT, ETC, 






ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS BY THE BEST ARTISTS 




PHILADELPHIA: 

THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO., 

253 MARKET STREET. 

FOR 

HORACE ROBINSON. 

184S. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by 

THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO. 

in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



"9 



4°) . 



STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN. 



(2) 



PEEEACE, 



BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 



The history of France is full of interest, and it forms 
a most important study, particularly for the people of 
our owh country. Situated in the centre of Europe, 
France has exerted great influence in promoting the ad- 
vance of civilization, ever since its people were con- 
verted to the Christian religion. In the history of its 
several dynasties we are able to trace the progress of 
every form of government from barbarism to feudalism, 
and from feudalism to simple despotism. And in the 
events of the last half century we observe the gradual 
interrupted, but certain progress from despotism to the 
noblest and wisest of all forms of government — a free 
republic. 

France not only presents to the American a most 
profitable study in its history, but it advances a strong 
claim to the sympathy of our own happy country. To 
her we are in a great measure indebted for the success- 
ful assertion of our own claim to national independence. 
To her we are indebted for the Lafayettes, the Rocham- 
beaus, the Armands, the De Grasses, and the D'Estaings 
of the Revolution ; and to her great Napoleon we owe 
the easy acquisition of a most important portion of our 
national territory. 

Every American should therefore study the history of 
France, and draw from it lessons of political science. 

(iii) 



lY PREFACE. 

In this history, written by the accomplished Dr. Tay- 
lor, the events are narrated clearly and forcibly ; and 
justice is done to the great characters who have figured 
on that grand theatre of human affairs. The American 
editor has made some few additions to the text, inclu- 
ding new chapters, which bring the history down to the 
present time. He has also inserted the numerous his- 
torical embellishments, consisting of portraits, costumes, 
historical pictures of battles and sieges, and views of 
important places. In editing the work, he has endea- 
voured to conform to the active spirit of improvement, 
which is so marked a feature of the present age. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. The Gauls 7 

II. The Franks, from Clovis to Charlemagne 14 

III. The reign of Charlemagne 28 

IV. The Carlovingian race 35 

V. Do. continued 43 

VI. Do. concluded 49 

VII. From the accession of Hugh Capet to the First Cru- 
sade 56 

VIII. The History of Normandy 63 

IX. The History of France from the First Crusade to 

the accession of Philip Augustus 72 

X. The reign of Philip Augustus 85 

XI. The reigns of Louis VIII. and IX 101 

XII. Do. of Philip the Hardy, and Philip the Fair 112 

XIII. Do. of Louis the Quarrelsome, Philip the 
Long, and Charles the Fair 122 

XIV. The reign of Philip of Valois 127 

XV. Do. continued — John 137 

XVI. John— the Regency 149 

XVII. Charles V., surnamed the Wise 154 

XVin. Charles VI 161 

XIX. Charles VI.— Henry V. of England 171 

XX. Charles VII., surnamed the Victorious 180 

XXI. Louis XI 190 

XXn. Charles VIII. surnamed the Affable and Courteous. 200 
XXIIL Louis Xn., surnamed the Father of his People. ... 208 

XXIV. Francis 1 214 

XXV. Do. continued 225 

XXVI. Henry IL— Francis II • 232 

XXVIL Charles IX 240 

1* (y) 



\1 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

XXVIII. Henry III 252 

XXIX. Henry IV 266 

XXX. Louis XIII 276 

XXXI. Louis XIV.— the Wars of the Fronde 290 

XXXII. Louis XIV. to the treaty of Ryswick 300 

XXXIII. Do. to the War of the Spanish succession 312 

XXXIV. Louis XV 321 

XXXV. Do. continued 330 

XXXVI. Louis XVI 337 

XXXVII. Do. continued 348 

XXXVIII. The Republic 356 

XXXIX. The Empire 374 

XL. Do. continued 383 

XLL Do. Do 394 

XLII. The Hundred Days 400 

XLIII. The Restoration and Revolution of 1830 409 

XLIV. Louis Philippe 418 

XLV. Tiie Revolution of 1848— Downfall of Louis 

Philippe 441 

XL VI. France under the Provisional Government 467 

XLVII. France under the National Assembly. — Rebel- 
lion of June, 1848 478 



THE 



HISTORY OF FRANCE AND NORMANDY. 



CHAPTER I. 







An Ancient Gaul. 



THE GAULS. 



From Ister's icy stream a barbarous crowd 
In horrent furs, a herd promiscuous stood, 
Swift as their savage game, far wide they roam ; 
In tribes and nations ignorant of home* 

Episoitiab. 

1. The difficulties that impede our inquiries into the origin 
of nations are so many, and so various, that we must, in most 
cases, be contented with probability, since the most laborious 

(7) 



8 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

researches fail to supply us with certain information. But as 
the Gauls were a conspicuous portion of that great Celtic 
family by which all the western continent of Europe and the 
British Isles were peopled, some brief sketch of their several 
migrations, as far as they have been ascertained, cannot fail 
to be interesting. The offspring of Japhet, we are told in 
Scripture, colonized " the isles of the Gentiles," as Europe is 
designated in the Old Testament ; of these the Cimmerians, 
or Cimbrians, who were descended from Gomer,* settled in 
the north and east of Europe, and gradually spread ihem- 




A Romanized Gaul. 



* The numerous descendants of Gomer are usually called the 
Celtic tribes ; but the names given to the Cushite warriors are as 
numerous as their conquests ; to them belong the Scythians, the Tar- 
tars, the Goths, the Scots, and almost all the tribes of wandering 
warriors who have at different periods effected the greatest revolu- 
tions in the Eastern and Western world. 



THE GAULS. 9 

selves westwards. 2. The descendants of Cush, known by 
the names of Scythians and Tartars, have, from the earliest 
ages, been the greatest wanderers and the most warlike of na- 
tions. A horde of these barbarians attacked the Cimmerian 
colonies, expelled the inhabitants, and gave their own name 
to the country they had subdued. The Cimmerians, driven 
from their former settlements, fled through the extensive forests 
of Germany, and took up their residence in Gaul, of which 
they appear to have been the first inhabitants. 

3. The date of this migration is probably about the ninth 
or tenth century before the Christian era ; for Homer men- 
tions the Cimmerians as the inhabitants of the countries bor- 
dering on the Don and Danube, but when Herodotus wrote, 
we find that they had been displaced by the Scythians. 4. 
The ofl^spring of Cush, who delighted in a wandering life, 
spread themselves over the German forests, every where 
driving the Cimbri before them, until at length the Rhine 
formed the boundary between the two nations. In the time 
of Julius Caesar the distinctions between the two nations were 
strongly marked, and that great warrior and historian more 
than once declares that the Germans must have been a nation 
differing in origin from the Gauls. 5. The southern part of 
Gaul was frequently visited by the Phoenician, Carthagenian 
and Grecian merchants, for the purpose of commerce, but the 
most important event connected with this part of the 
country was the foundation of Marseilles by the Pho- -og" 
cseans, who introduced a spirit of commercial enterprise, 
and taught the inhabitants the arts of social life. 6. Although 
the Gauls did not make such extensive conquests as the de- 
scendants of Cush, they sent out several hordes at various 
timts which spread ruin and devastation over the finest parts 
of Europe. About the time of the first Cimbrian migration, 
a body of these wanderers crossed the Alps and seized the Ita- 
lian province, which, by a slight corruption of their 
name, was thence called Umbria. At a subsequent pe- g^g' 
riod a new horde seized the north of Italy, and gave 
it the name of Cisalpine Gaul. The rich productions of Italy, 
and especially its wines, continued to attract fresh war- 
riors across the Alps, and Rome itself nearly fell a ooq' 
prey to these barbarians. Another equally numerous 
horde penetrated into Greece and laid siege to Delphi ; they 
were driven from this with great slaughter, but their numbers 
being increased by fresh recruits, they became formidable 



10 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

enemies to the successors of Alexander, they engaged in de- 
structive civil wars. After a variety of adventures some of 
them settled in the north of Thrace, but the greater part, passing 
over the Hellespont, seized on a province of Asia Minor, 
which was thence called Gallatia or Gallo-Graecia. 

7. The Gauls were always jealous of the people of Mar- 
seilles, whom they looked on as intruders, and the wars be- 
tween the native Celts and the Grecian colonists afforded the 
first pretence to the Romans for invading their country. 
They did not resign their liberties without a desperate re- 
sistance, and Caesar resided ten years in their country before 
he had completed their subjugation. 

8. The Gauls possessed all the characteristics of the Celtic 
race : they had a fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and 
loud voices ; their temper was lively and enthusiastic, but 
they were deficient in steadiness and perseverance. Their first 
attack in battle was almost irresistible, but if that was repelled, 
they did not sustain the fight with equal courage. They 
were ardent in their likings and dislikings, but so fickle as to 
pass from the extreme of affection to that of hatred on the 
most trivial grounds. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that 
a similar character is usually given to the modern French. 

9. The rivers of ancient Gaul frequently overflowed the 
country, and the marshes thus formed divided it into three 
great districts, Aquitain in the south, the territory of the 
Celts in the middle, and that of the Belgae on the north. 
The inhabitants were divided into several tribes, each governed 
by their respective sovereign, and these were again subdivided 
into septs or clans, the head or chief of which possessed an 
almost absolute authority in his own domains. 10. These 
diflerent communities were held together by a federal union 
similar to that of the Amphictyonic council in Greece, but 
there was no regular time appointed for holding the grand 
council ; it was only summoned on occasions of great emer- 
gency, and consequently frequently met too late to avert the 
evil against which it was summoned to provide. The govern- 
ment of the Celts appears to have been every where a complete 
aristocracy, differing from that established in the feudal times 
by the absence of any gradations between absolute power and 
absolute slavery. 

11. But the most remarkable feature in all the Celtic na- 
tions is their order of ecclesiastical nobility called Druids. 
This class of men enjoyed the highest honours, and the 



THE GAULS. 



11 



greatest privileges ; they had the supreme control over all re- 
ligious ceremonies, and appeal could be made to their tribunal 
in civil cases ; their persons were sacred, and they were ex- 
empted from all taxes and military service : in a word, they 
enjoyed so many immunities and distinctions, that princes 
were ambitious of being admitted into their societies. 12. 
They are divided into three classes, the Druids, properly so 
called, to whom the care of religion was entrusted; the 
Bards, who were the historical poets of the nation ; and the 
Euvates, who were a kind of religious poets, that pretended 
to inspiration and delivered oracles. There were also female 
Druids, who were held in high respect, and frequently called 




Druids. 

to assist at the council of the nation. The British Druids 
were the most celebrated, and the candidates for the priest- 
hood were frequently sent from Gaul into Britain to complete 
their education. 13. The sun and fire were worshipped as 
the most forcible emblems of the Supreme Divinity; but 
they also adored the moon, and a host of inferior deities. 
The Druids exceeded ail other heathens in the extravagant 
cruelty of their sacrifices; they not only ofl^ered up human 
victims singly, but on some occasions they formed a huge 
colossal figure of a man, from osier twigs, and having filled 
it with human beings, surrounded it with hay, and reduced 



12 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

it, with all the miserable creatures it contained, to ashes. The 
great object of their reverence was the deru^ or oak, from 
which their name is derived ; and the misletoe, a parasitical 
plant, sometimes found growing on the oak, was especially 
venerated ; it was annually cut with great ceremony, and 
carefully preserved by the Arch-Druid, or chief of the priests. 

14. The learning of the Druids was confined, in a great 
degree, to a smattering of astronomy and anatomy : the for- 
mer they cultivated in consequence of their belief in the in- 
fluence of the stars, the latter they learned from the dissec- 
tion of their human victims ; but they seem never to have 
derived any practical advantage from either study. Like the 
priests of Egypt and Persia, they are said to have had two 
systems of religious belief, one for the vulgar, and one for 
the initiated ; to the latter they taught the unity of the God- 
head, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the 
worthlessness of many practices required from the vulgar. 
The doctrine of the Metempsychosis which Pythagoras pub- 
lished to the Greeks appears to have prevailed amongst the 
Druids from the remotest antiquity. 

15. The Druids were detested by the Romans because 
they stimulated the inhabitants to the most vigorous efforts 
for their independence ; when, therefore, Gaul became a Ro- 
man province, the Druids were discouraged and their num- 
bers diminished. Early in the second century, Christianity 
was introduced into the country, and spread over it with sur- 
prising rapidity. Many superstitious observances derived from 
the Druids prevailed, however, for several centuries after- 
wards. 16. It is worthy of remark, that the Celts were the 
most easily converted, and the most devotedly attached to the 
church of all the nations of antiquity. The Gothic nations, 
after their conversion, for the most part fell into the Arian 
heresy, but the Gauls were always zealously attached to the 
Catholic doctrines. 

17. After the subjugation of Gaul by the Romans, the van- 
quished adopted the language and customs of the conquerors ; 
the ferocity of the Gauls was abated, the arts of civilized life 
introduced, and the former national character almost effaced. 
But with their freedom the Gauls lost the military spirit by 
which their ancestors had been distinguished ; luxury de- 
stroyed their courage, and they fell an easy prey to the de- 
scendants of those barbarians, by whom their ancestors had 
been expelled from the east of Europe. 



14 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




CHAPTER II. 

THE FRANKS— FROM THE REIGN OF CLOVIS TO THE 
ACCESSION OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



How easy 'tis when destiny proves kind, 
With full-spread sails to run before the wind. 

Drtdett. 

1. The Romans continued undisturbed masters of Gaul 
during two entire centuries ; but about the year 260, various 
barbarous tribes began to make incursions into it; the em- 
perors, sunk in debauchery, neglected the care of the pro- 
vinces, and this beautiful country became the prey of its fero- 
cious invaders. In the year 414, the Burgundians and Visi- 
goths, two Germanic tribes, obtained from the emperor Hono- 
rius settlements in the southern provinces of Gaul, while the 
northern parts were seized on by the Franks, a fierce tribe, 
who had assumed their name from their firm determination to 



THE FRANKS. 



15 



remain free. These people invaded Belgic Gaul, and, after a 
struggle which continued more than a century, succeeded in 
making themselves masters of a considerable tract, of which 
they made Treves the capital. 




Inauguration of a King of tlie Franks. 

2. Before the accession of Clovis, several kings 
ruled over the Franks, of whom the most celebrated ' / 
M^as Pharamond ; he, as well as king Arthur, is a fa- 
vourite hero of romance ; his dynasty is usually called the 
Merovingian, from Meroveus their supposed ancestor. 3. On 
the accession of Clovis, who was inaugurated in the usual 
manner of kings of the Franks by raising him on the 
shield, Gaul was divided into five states ; that of the Bur- 
gundians and Visigoths in the south, that of the Franks in the 
north-east, the independent republic of Armorica, which oc- 
cupied the place of the present province of Brittany, and a 
small part of Belgic Gaul, which still remained subject to 
the Romans. 4. The first enterprise of Clovis was an attack 
on the Roman province where Syagrius, the provincial go- 
vernor, was aiming at royal power ; Clovis, at the early age 
of nineteen, completely defeated Syagrius near Soissons, 
drove out the Romans, and thus laid the foundation of the 
future greatness of the French monarchy. It was after this 
battle, and the sacking of the city of the Soissons, that an 



16 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



incident occurred, showing the little authority possessed by 
the kings of the Franks over their subjects. Saint Remi, the 
Bishop of Rheims, demanded of Clovis a sacred vase, which 
he had seen among the spoils of the city. Willing to pro- 
pitiate the priests, and if possible gain them to his interests, 
Clovis was about to take up the vase and present it to the 
bishop, when a soldier, springing forward, struck it a violent 
blow with his battle-axe, which broke it into many pieces, de- 
claring that he would not let the king take any thing belong- 
ing to his part of the booty. Clovis for a time restrained his 
anger ; but about a year afterwards, seizing the opportunity 
of a review of his troops, he struck the battle-axe from the 
hands of the soldier, and while he stooped to pick it up he 
killed him with a blow of his own axe, saying, Remember 
the vase of Soissons. 




■4, 

The Vase of Soissons. 



5. The Gauls detested the Roman yoke, and were strongly 
attached to Christianity. Clovis won their affections by 
treating them with mildness, respecting their religion, and fa- 
vouring their bishops. His marriage with Clotilda, niece of 
Gondebald, king of Burgundy, made his new subjects enter- 



18 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




THE FRANKS. 19 

tain hopes that he would abjure idolatry for the Christian 
faith ; to which he was gradually reconciled by the exhorta- 
tions of that pious princess ; but he hesitated to make an im- 
mediate change on account of the attachment of the Franks 
to their ancient faith, 6. At length, having defeated 
the Alemanni at Tolbiac, and attributing that victory ^' ^' 
to the God of Clotilda, whom he had invoked in the 




ClQvis at the Battle of Tolbiac. 

crisis' of the engagement, he caused himself to be baptized by 
St. Remi, bishop of Rheims, and the greater part of his sub- 
jects followed his example. After this event, having the sup- 
port of the bishops, Clovis greatly enlarged his dominions. 
He extended his conquests to the Loire ; and the battle of 
Voille, near Tours, gained against the Visigoths, enabled the 
victorious Franks to carry their banners from Toulouse to 
Bourdeaux, across the whole of Aquitania. On his 
return from the conquest Clovis entered in triumph the '^' 
city of Tours. 7. The crimes of Gondebald afforded 
Clovis a pretext for attacking the Burgundians ; he was joined 
in this war by Theodoric the Great, king of Italy ; but after 
having completed the conquest, Clovis found that he had more 
cause to dread his ally than his enemy, he therefore made 
peace with Gondebald and restored him to his dominions. 



20 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



8. Clovis next resolved to seize on the territories of Ala- 
ric, king of the Visigoths ; he covered his designs under the 
mask of religion, continually exclaiming against the horrid 
impiety of suffering Arians to reign in Gaul, for the Visigoths 
had adopted that heresy. Though Alaric vv^as no persecutor, 
the Catholic clergy in his dominions favoured the enterprise 
of Clovis, and afforded one of the earliest instances 
of ecclesiastical interference in the affairs of nations. 
At the battle of Vouille, near Poictiers, Clovis crowned 
the vi'ishes of his party by a decisive victory, in which the 
Visigoths were totally overthrown and their sovereign Alaric 
slain. 9. Theodoric, alarmed at the progress of the Gauls, 
sent an army across the Alps, which checked the victorious 
career of Clovis, and inflicted on him a severe defeat near 
Aries. In consequence of this, Provence and part of Aqul- 
tain became subject to the Gothic monarchs of Italy. 



A. D. 

507. 




Clovis. 



10. Clovis dishonoured the latter part of his reign by 
atrocious acts of treachery and cruelty to his own relations, 
whom he stripped of their possessions. At the same time 
he built churches and monasteries ; doubtless from 
a persuasion that the Divine laws, like those of the 
barbarians, admitted a pecuniary compensation for 
every crime. 



A. D. 

511. 



THE FRANKS. 



21 



11. On the death of Clovis his dominions were shared 
among his four sons, Thierry, Clodomir, Childebert, and 
Clotaire ; and the monarchy was unhappily dismembered 
into four kingdoms ; Austrasia or Metz, Orleans, Paris, and 
Soissons. This division of necessity produced the most 
bloody civil wars ; the brothers became bitter enemies, and 
perpetrated the most savage enormities. Clotaire and Chil- 
debert wrested their dominions from the sons of Clo- 
domir, two of whom Clotaire stabbed with his own 
hand. They afterwards united in an invasion of Bur- 
gundy, in which they were completely successful. 



A. D. 

534. 




Clotaire I. 



12. After a series of ruinous wars, Clotaire I. became the 
sole monarch of France ; but deriving no advantage from ex- 
perience of the calamities that had been caused by the former 
dismemberment of the kingdom, he too divided the monarchy 
between his four sons, and thus bequeathed another half- 
century of civil war to his unfortunate country. 

13. The evils of this calamitous period were greatly ag- 
gravated by the sanguinary ambition of two women, who 
rather deserved the epithet of furies than the title of queens. 
These were Brunehaut and Fredegonde. The former, a 
princess of Spain, had married Sigebert, king of Austrasia , 



22 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



the latter, at first mistress of Chilperic, king of Soissons, had 
prevailed on him to espouse her after divorcing his wife. 
Their mutual hatred and uncontrolled influence over their 
husbands, gave birth to numerous crimes equally fatal to the 
people and the royal family. Sigebert was murdered by Fre- 
degonde's emissaries while he was besieging Chilperic in 
Tournay. She afterwards sacrificed the children of her hus- 
band by his former marriage to secure for her own son the 




Brunehaut. 



right of succession. Brunehaut, on her part breathing ven- 
geance, armed the princes, and fanned the flames of civil 
war ; but at last, falling into the hands of Clotaire, the son 
of Fredegonde, she was condemned to the most horrid tor- 
ments, as guilty of the murders of ten kings or children of 
kings. 

There was an old German custom, according to which, the 
chief of a troop of warriors was expected to grant them, 
from time to time, some mark of his favour, generally an 
ornamented battle-axe, or a fine war-horse. When the Franks 
were established in Gaul, and the chief had become the king, 
instead of arms and horses, he preferred to distribute among 
them a part of his domains. Originally, these henejices were 
only temporary, being reunited to the royal domain after the 
death of the chief to whom they had been granted, or even 



THE FRANKS. 



23 



during his life, in case of forfeiture or of treason. Thus the 
king's favours seldom lessened his means ; but, when he 
consented to alienate for ever portions more or less consider- 
able of his domain, he soon found it impossible to repair his 
prodigalities. When the leudes could obtain no more from 
the king, they began to desert him •, an independent aristo- 
cracy vi^as formed, which daily increased in power as the 
royal authority became less. It was the Austrasian leudes 
who first obtained this right by the treaty of Andelot : the 
Neustrian and Burgundian leudes were not slow in demand- 
ing and obtaining it also. 

14. Clotaire II., son of Chilperic and Fredegonde, 
again united France under a single monarch, after '' 
massacring a multitude of princes. He restored tran- 
quillity, and gained the confidence of his subjects, but by in- 
creasing the power of the nobility, and confiding the admi- 
nistration of government to the mayors of the palace, he 
opened a way for the revolution which expelled his family 
from the throne. 




Fredesonde. 



15. Clotaire II. left the kingdom between his two 
sons, but Dagobert, by the murder of his brother, ob- 
tained possession of the entire. He is the most cele- 
brated of the Merovingian princes, and though he was guilty 



A. D. 

631. 



24 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



oi" many atrocious crimes, he is deservedly praised for his 
impartial administration of justice, which was publicly sold 
by his predecessors. On the other hand, he loaded the peo- 
ple with severe impositions, both to supply his debaucheries, 
and according to the custom of the period, to expiate his 
crimes by profuse donations to the church. 




A. D. 



Throne of Dagobert, in the Museum at Paris. 

16. After the death of Dagobert the monarchy fell 
■t' ^' into the possession of a series of monarchs who fol- 
lowed each other in rapid succession, and whose 
reigns present an almost perfect blank. They are commonly 
called Les Rois Fain^ans^ or the sluggard kings, and appear 
to have well merited the disgraceful appellation. 17. The 
entire power of the state was possessed by the mayors of the 
palace, who left to the monarch little more than the shadow 
of royalty ; of these the most illustrious was Pepin d'Heris- 
tal, who ruled the province of Austrasia for twenty-seven 
years with equal prudence and courage. During the greater 
part of this period Pepin was virtually the sovereign of France, 
and kept the rightful monarch a prisoner in the palace, per- 
mitting him only to show himself annually to the people at 
the assemblies in the Champ de Mars. 



THE FRANKS. 25 

18. Pepin was succeeded by his illegitimate son, 
Charles Martel, one of the greatest generals that '^' 
•France has ever produced. 19. The Saracens, who 
had previously subdued the greater part of Spain, crossed the 
Pyrennees with an overwhelming force, and directing their 
course to Aquitain, defeated the governor, and subdued the 




Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours. 

greater part "of the province. Charles Martel hasted 
to meet them, a battle was fought near Tours, and the '' 
Saracens were defeated with incredible slaughter. By 
this victory France was saved from becoming a Mohammedan 
country, and a check was given to the progress of a power 
which threatened the subjugation of Europe. 20. Thence- 
forward Martel employed himself in consolidating the strength 
of France, and introducing order into a kingdom which had 
been so long distracted. After having conferred these 
great blessings on his country he died, bequeathing the _^ , ' 
inheritance of his office to his sons Pepin and Carlo- 
man. 

21. After having obtained some successes in Germany, 
3 



26 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Carloman became disgusted with the world, and retired into 
a monastery; thus the whole authority of the state devolved 

on Pepin, who resolved to add the title to the power 
_■ * of sovereign. 22. At a time when the Papal power 

was assailed by the Greeks and Lombards, and when 
the support of an active partizan was likely to be well re- 
warded, Pepin laid before the Pope the following case of con- 
science, " Who ought to bear the title of king, a prince in- 
capable of governing, or a minister already invested with the 
royal authority, which he administered with honour.?" The 
Pope decided as Pepin wished, the clergy of France embraced 
his cause with zeal, the nobility respected his abilities, and 
the nation in general willingly agreed to remove a race of 
obscure inactive kings, who were scarcely known, even by 
name. 23. Childeric, the nominal monarch, was degraded, 
and, together with his son, shut up in a monastery ; Pepin 
was, without resistance, raised to the throne, and solemnly 
anointed at Soissons by St. Boniface, Bishop of Mentz, who 
had been long one of his most vigorous supporters. Pepin 
repaid the Pope by leading an army into Italy against the 
opponents of the Holy See : this expedition was very suc- 
cessful, Pepin conquered the Lombards and the Greeks in 
every engagement, and wrested from them several provinces, 
all of which he gave to the Pope. 24. The remainder of 
Pepin's reign was glorious and fortunate : he subjected the 
Saxons and Sclavonians to tribute, obliged the duke of Bavaria 
to take an oath of fidelity, and reunited the province of Aqui- 

tain to the French crown. He died in the seventeenth 
_,' ■ year of his reign, equally respected at home and abroad. 

By consent of his nobility he divided his dominions 
between his two sons, Charles and Carloman, the reign of the 
former of v/hom forms a great epoch in history. 

The character of Pepin may be best gathered from his 
acts. He was ambitious and remorseless ; but not wantonly 
cruel. His prudence has passed into a proverb ; and his 
superstition was never perhaps exceeded. In his civil ad- 
ministration it was his policy to appear to give the reins to 
the national assemblies ; but in reality he exercised absolute 
power by bribing the most influential of the nobles and 
clergy, and by intimidating the rest. To him papacy was 
indebted for its temporal power, and for its pretensions 
to universal sovereignty — the authority to exalt and dethrone 
princes, and to dispose of kingdoms and people at a word. 



THE FRANKS. 



27 



In person, Pepin was short, insomuch that he was called 
Le Bref; but he was stout, vigorous, and hardy — a warrior 
fit for the rough times in which he lived. An anecdote re- 
lated of him shows at least the opinion entertained of his 
muscular power and courage ; and affords at the same time 
an idea of the popular sports during his reign. At a public 
exhibition, while a strong lion held a furious bull by the 
throat almost strangled, the king proposed that some of the 
company should go forward and rescue the animal. No one, 
however, durst attempt the act, till Pepin, rising from his 
seat, leaped into the arena, and with a single stroke of his 
sword cut of the head of the bull. Then, turning to the 
spectators he said, " David who slew Goliah was a little 
man ; and Alexander also was short of stature, yet he had 
more strength and courage than many of his officers who 
were taller and handsomer than himself." 




Ancient Helmet, Shield, and Saddle. 



28 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Charlemagne, from a Mosaic, made by order of Pope Leo HE. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



A. D. 



All was prepared — the fire, the sword, the men 

To wield them in their terrible array; 
The army, like a lion from his den, 

March'd forth with nerves and sinews bent to slay. 
A human Hydra issuing from his fen 

To breathe destruction on its winding way. 

Btroit. 

1. The French monarchy was divided between 
«' 'j'" Charles, called afterwards Charlemagne, or Charles 
the Great, and his brother Carloman. A civil war 
which was on the point of breaking out between the rival 
brothers was prevented by the death of the latter, and Charle- 
magne became the sole monarch of France. Having secured 
his accession he married the daughter of Didier, king of the 
Lombards, but soon after divorced her without assigning any 
cause. Didier, enraged at this affront, afforded an asylum to 
Carloman's widow and her two sons, who had been deprived 



THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE. 29 

of their inheritance by Charles, and attempted to gain over 
pope Adrian 1. to his side. 2. But the pope was far from 
wishing to gratify the Lombard prince ; on the contrary, he 
entered into a closer alliance with the French king, on which 
Didier ravaged the territories that Pepin had given to the 
church, and which were now called the patrimony of St. 
Peter. Upon the news of these events Charlemagne passed 
the Alps with a numerous army, and by forced marches 
arriving at Verona before his approach was suspected, cap- 
tured the town, and made his sister-in-law with her two chil- 
dren prisoners. He next laid siege to Pavia, and by 
its capture put an end to the kingdom of the Lombards, „!,, ' 
which had subsisted two hundred and six years. 
Didier died in a monastery, but history is silent as to the fate 
of Charlemagne's nephews. 

3. During the siege of Pavia Charlemagne paid a visit to 
Rome, where he was met by the whole body of the clergy, 
with banners in their hands : Adrian received him with great 
pomp in the church of St. Peter, and the people sung " Blessed 
is he that cometh in the name of the LordP Charlemagne 
is said to have ratified the gift made to the church by Pepin ; 
but as neither the original nor any copy of such an important 
deed has been ever produced, the truth of this event appears 
very questionable. 

4. Almanzor, the king of the Saracens in Spain, was one 
of the greatest and wisest monarchs in Europe ; he had com- 
pletely subdued the Christian princes in the Peninsula, and 
compelled them to pay him tribute ; the rulers of Sara- 
gossa and Arragon however revolted, and called in '' 
Charlemagne, whom they acknowledged as their 
sovereign. The French monarch passed the Pyrennees and 
subdued the whole country as far as the Ebro, but on his 
return the rear of his army was attacked at Roncesvalles by 
the duke of Gascony, and his gallant nephew Roland slain. 
This trifling engagement has furnished the theme of an im- 
mense number of romances. 

5. During all this period the war with the Saxons con- 
tinued : Pepin had compelled them to pay tribute, and besides 
forced them to receive missionaries, but they could neither 
bear to pay the one nor embrace the religion of the other, 
the pacific spirit of which was so contradictory to the human 
passions. Having massacred several of the missionaries, and 
committed several other outrages, they provoked Charlemagne 

3* 



30 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

to wage war against them, and so strenuously were they at- 
tached to liberty, that they held out against his power 
^'q^' for thirty years. 6. In one of these battles Witikind, 
the Saxon general, inflicted a severe defeat on the 
French, which Charlemagne cruelly revenged by the massacre 
of Verden, where four thousand five hundred of the principal 
Saxons were beheaded. 7. At length Witikind, after being 




Submission of Witikind. 

defeated with great slaughter in several battles, made his sub- 
mission, and embraced Christianity. His followers were not 
equally tractable ; they often revolted, and were not com- 
pletely subdued until Charlemagne removed many thousand 
families of them, which he dispersed through Flanders and 
other countries. Some of the most resolute tribes retired 
into Scandinavia, carrying with them an implacable hatred 
against the dominion and religion of the French. 

8. Every nation in Germany that attempted to make the 
least resistance to the arms of Charlemagne was subdued ; 
the Sclavonians in Pomerania shared the fate of the Saxons, 
and were compelled to become Christians and subjects. 
Tassilo, duke of Bavaria, the nephew of Charlemagne, had 



THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE. 31 

encouragea the Saxons in their rebellion, and Charlemagne 
in turn entered Bavaria. The duke in his distress sought the 
alliance of the Huns or Abares, who had settled !n the king- 
dom of Hungary, to which they have given their name. This 
nation of robbers used to sally out and plunder all the neigh- 
bouring states, and then return with their booty to some for- 
tified enclosures which they called rings. This alliance with 
the Bavarian duke was fatal to both parties ; his own subjects, 
disgusted with their barbarous allies, rebelled against Tassilo, 
and delivered him up to Charlemagne, by whom he was sen- 
tenced to perpetual imprisonment; the Huns, after a severe 
and protracted struggle, which lasted nine years, were totally 
subdued, their rings taken, and the accumulated plunder of 
two hundred years seized on by the French monarch. 
9. On the death of queen Hildegard, Charlemagne 
took for his wife Fastrade, a woman of low birth, but _,' ' 
of a vindictive and haughty temper; this marriage 
was fatal to his peace and to his fame : she filled his mind 
with jealousies and suspicions, stimulated him to acts of 
cruelty, and made him the oppressor both of the nobles and 
the people. 10. This conduct created disaflfection, a 
conspiracy was formed to dethrone Charlemagne, and ' ' 
to place the crown on the head of Pepin, one of his 
natural sons. The plot was fortunately discovered, and most 
of the conspirators punished, but Charlemagne never again 
recovered the full confidence of his subjects. 

11. Leo HI., who succeeded Adrian on the papal 
throne, immediately after his accession sent the stan- '^J 
dard of Rome to Charlemagne, entreating him to send 

a deputy to that city to receive the allegiance of the inhabit- 
ants ; a clear proof that the pontiffs at this period acknow- 
ledged the sovereignty of the emperor. Three years after, 
the relations of the late pope brought an accusation against 
Leo, attacked him in the open street, overwhelmed him with 
a shower of blows, and shut him up half dead in the prison 
of a monastery. From thence, however, he contrived to 
make his escape, and fled to Charlemagne, who received him 
with the greatest respect, sent him back loaded with honours, 
and promised soon to follow him into Italy. 

12. In the following year Charlemagne proceeded 

' to Rome, to investigate the charges made against Leo ; jjj.^' 
several of the clergy objected to this proceeding, de- 
claring that ecclesiastics could not be tried by a lay tribunal, 



32 HISTORY OF FRANCE, 

but Leo consented to make his defence, and was honourably 
acquitted. On the Christmas-day following, the pope, in the 
midst of divine service, placed an imperial crown on the head 
of Charlemagne, and the people shouted, " Long life to 
Charles Augustus, crowned by the hand of God, great and 
pacific emperor of the Romans?'' Leo by this act threw off 
the nominal subjection under which the popes still were to 
the emperors of Constantinople, and from this period there 
were two empires, the eastern and the western, Charlemagne 
being ^he first emperor of the west. 

]3. The death of Fastrade having left Charlemagne again 
a widower, he designed to marry Irene, who had usurped the 
throne of Constantinople, after having dethroned and mur- 
dered her son Constantine. This match was prevented by a 
new change in the east ; Irene was dethroned by the patrician 
Nicephorus, who confined her in a monastery, and mounted 
the throne. 

14. The new emperor, dreading the power of 

„*, . ■ Charlemagne, hastened to enter into alliance with 

him ; a treaty was concluded, by which the limits of 

the two empires were settled ; and thus the sovereignty of 

the entire Roman empire, so long claimed by the monarchs 

of Constantinople, was resigned. 

15. The fame of Charlemagne penetrated into Asia. The 
celebrated caliph, Haroun al Raschid, whose name is familiar 
to every reader of the Arabian Tales, and who was one of 
the greatest encouragers of learning in the east, sent an em- 
bassy to Charlemagne with many valuable presents, among 
which was a striking clock, said to have been the first ever 
seen in France : as a further proof of his friendship, the 
caliph ceded to him the sovereignty of Jerusalem, which, 
even at this period, was frequented by pilgrims for the pur- 
poses of devotion. 

16. Charlemagne had now vanquished all his old 
„* ■ enemies, when a new and more formidable foe ap- 
peared on his coasts ; the Normans, a people fi'om 
the northern shores of the Baltic, under the command of a 
brave leader named Godfrey, made several piratical incursions 
on the shores of France, and carried oft' immense spoil. 
Charlemagne led an army against the country of these pirates, 
but finding the difficulties of the war insuperable, was com- 
pelled to make peace with them and return home. 

17. One great cause of the ruin of states, in the middle 



THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE. 33 

ages, was the absurd custom of dividing them, after the de- 
cease of the sovereign, among several princes ; Charlemagne 
adopted this absurd practice, and by his will, which he caused 
to be signed by the bishops and other great lords, he shared 
his empire between his three sons, Charles, Pepin, and 
Louis, appointing them also his lieutenants during his ' ' 
life-time. But soon after this arrangement the two 
eldest died, and Charles associated his surviving son 
Louis with him in the kingdom. 18. The death of " ' 
his children weighed heavily on the mind of Charles; 
from a state of vigorous health he passed all at once to the 
infirmity and decrepitude of old age ; as the hour of his dis- 
solution approached, he devoted his time to preparation for 
the awful change, and spent the last year of his life in the 
study of the Scriptures, in prayer and in acts of charity. 
When Charles felt that the moment of his dissolution was at 
hand, he gathered sufficient strength to make the sign of the 
cross with his right hand ; then quietly composing himself 
in the bed, he exclaimed, " Into thy hands I commend my 
spirit," and expired as he uttered the words. 

19. Charlemagne died in the seventy-second year of his 
age, and the forty-fourth of his reign, after having acquired 
a vast empire, which his abilities could alone maintain. He 
was master of all France, Germany, Hungary, and Belgium, 
together with the country of Barcelona in Spain, and Italy as 
far as Benevento. His abilities, as a conqueror and general, 
did not surpass his great qualities as a monarch and states- 
man. He created a naval force to control the piratical at- 
tempts of the Normans, he designed a canal of communica- 
tion between the Rhine and Danube, which would have 
united the commerce of the Atlantic Ocean and the Black 
Sea — a useful project, which the want of intelligent work- 
men prevented from being put into execution ; he founded 
schools and universities, and gave his subjects a code of laws 
called capitularies ; which, amid many absurdities, contain a 
great number of useful enactments. The administration of 
justice during the reign of Charlemagne, was provided for by 
the establishment of commissioners, who made quarterly 
circuits through the provinces, to receive and judge of all 
complaints against the local governors, and to whom the 
clergy were subject as well as the laity. The greatest defect 
in the policy of Charlemagne was his constant intermeddling 
with points of religious belief, and his issuing edicts on ob- 

C 



34 HISTORY 01< FRANCE. ^ 

scure questions of theology, many of which transcended the 
bounds of human knowledge. The procession of the third 
person in the Trinity, was one of the topics on which 
Charlemagne thought fit to legislate, and but for the prudence 
of Leo JII. the emperor's determination on this subject would 
have produced as great a schism between the Italian and Gal- 
ilean churches, as that between the Latins and Greeks. 
Though Charlemagne censured the riches and luxury of ec- 
clesiastics, he made several rich donations to the church, and 
greatly increased the power and possessions of the papal see. 
20. In private life the French monarch was a very estima- 
ble character; he divided the day into several portions, as- 
signing to each its different employment. He was a kind 
master, a tender husband, and an afl^ectionate father. He was 
strongly attached to literature, and conversation with men of 
learning was the favourite employment of his hours of re- 
laxation. 




THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 



35 




Ancient Crossbow Men. 



CHAPTER IV. 



FRENCH MONARCHS OF THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE 



O monarch, listen. — 
How many a day and moon thou hast reclined 
Within these palace walls in silken dalliance, 
And never shown thee to thy people's longing! — 
Till all, save evil, slumbered in the realm. 

Bxnonr. 

1. The empire which had been established by the 
wisdom and policy of Charlemagne, soon crumbled r,\/ 
to pieces during the reigns of his weak and inglorious 
successors. The entire history of the period is confused and 
entangled by the divisions which the sovereigns made of their 
dominions between their children, by the rapid changes of 
territory and succession of monarchs, distinguislied only by 
their name ; the reader should therefore refer to the tabular 
view of the French kings at the end of the volume, when- 
ever he finds himself impeded by these difficulties. The 
people of France hailed the accession of Louis with joy, be- 
cause he had endeared himself to the people of Aquitain, 



36 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

where he had hitherto resided, by gentleness and good temper, 
and seemed more attached to his native subjects than to 
foreigners ; while Charlemagne was supposed to have dis- 
liked both the language and the people of France. From the 
suavity of his manners and kindness of his disposition, his 
subjects called him Louis Le Debonnaire, or the Good-natured; 
a name expressive of qualities valuable in private life, but not 
the best suited for the management of a powerful empire. 

2. Two years after his accession he received the 
„■ ■ imperial crown from the hands of Pope Stephen V., 
■ and soon after committed the greatest and most com- 
mon error of the French sovereigns, by dividing the monarchy 
among his children ; thus still more weakening an authority 
already much enfeebled by the folly of the government. He 
gave Aquitain to Pepin, Bavaria to Louis, and made Lothaire, 
the eldest of these princes, his partner in the empire. 

3. "Bernard, the nephew of Louis, enjoyed the crown of 
Italy as a fief of the empire ; indignant at the elevation of 
Lothaire, he raised the standard of revolt, and broke out into 
open rebellion. Being abandoned by his troops, he was taken 
prisoner, tried, and condemned to death ; but Louis commuted 
the punishment, and caused his eyes to be put out; three 
days after the young prince died. In order to prevent new 
troubles, the emperor shut up in a monastery three natural 
sons of Charlemagne, and compelled them to take the mo- 
nastic vows. 

4. After these acts of rigour, Louis became distracted with 
remorse ; he reproached himself as the murderer of his ne- 
phew, and the tyrant of his brothers; these feelings were ag- 
gravated by the artifices of the clergy, who, at length, per- 
suaded the king to accuse himself in a general assembly, and 
to solicit the prelates to admit him to public penance. 
Though the clergy pretended to be greatly edified by his 
proceedings, they saw how easily a man of such feeble un- 
derstanding might be enslaved to their authority, and were 
not slow in taking advantage of the mistaken devotion which 
degraded the imperial majesty. 5. An opportunity soon pre- 
sented itself; after the death of his first wife, Louis had been 
united to Judith, daughter of the count of Bavaria, and had 
by her a son who was afterwards king of France, under the 
name of Charles the Bald. As this child seemed to be ex- 
cluded from the succession by the partition made in favour 
of the children of the first marriage, Louis was prevailed upon 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 37 

to make a new division, and obtain the consent of Lothaire, 
who was principally concerned to oppose it, and who soon 
found reason to lament his complaisance. 

The three princes soon after formed a party to re- 
store the original arrangement, and received effective q' ' 
aid from Vala, abbot of Corbie, who, though reputed 
a saint, did not scruple to put himself at the head of a fac- 
tion. Prodigies were inventefl to inflame the credulous mul- 
titude, the most odious charges were brought against the go- 
vernment, and especially the empress was accused of having 
committed adultery with Count Bernard, a minister who had 
rendered himself odious by his stern inflexibility. 6. The 
weak-minded Louis humbled himself to the rebels, his em- 
press was confined to a cloister, the king himself narrowly 
escaped a similar fate, and was compelled to publish a general 
amnesty, which only increased the insolence of the seditious. 

7. The flames of this rebellion had scarcely been 
extinguished, when a multitude of errors kindled an- 'r.^' 
other. Louis began once more to exercise the powers 

of a sovereign ; he recalled Judith to court, when her am- 
bition was exasperated by a thirst of vengeance ; he banished 
Vala, regardless of the popularity which he had acquired by 
his pretensions to sanctity, and finally he disinherited his two 
sons Lothaire and Pepin, thus affording them a pretext for 
their unnatural hostility. He even made himself odious to 
his' able minister, count Bernard, by giving himself up to the 
councils of a monk, who had unhappily gained his confi- 
dence. 

8. Lothaire, Pepin, and Louis, assembled their 
troops in Alsace, and prepared to march against their „' * 
father and their sovereign. Pope Gregory IV. joined 

them under the pretence of acting as a mediator, but dis- 
played all the zeal of a warm partizan, and threatened the 
weak monarch wiih the terrors of excommunication. Upon 
this several of the loyal prelates of France sent a spirited 
remonstrance to the pope, accusing him of treason to his 
sovereign, threatening him with excommunication for excom- 
munication, and even with deposition, if he persevered in his 
rebellion. Agobard, bishop of Lyons, the most celebrated of 
the French prelates, refused to concur with his brethren, and 
joined with Vala and a monk named Ratbert, in asserting that 
the pope was invested with the authority of universal judge, 
and was amenable to no human tribunal. Gregory, acting on 
4 



e3S HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the principles of his supporters, replied to the reraonstrance 
of the loyal prelates in terras of haughtiness, previously 
unparalleled, and asserted an authority which no pope had 
hitherto claimed. 

9. The crafty Lothaire sent Gregory to propose terms of 
accommodation with Louis : it is not known what passed at 
the interview, but the consequences were destructive of the 
royal cause. By the intrigues of Gregory the monarch was 
suddenly deprived of all support, and obliged to surrender to 
his enemies at discretion. He was then deposed by a tumul- 
tuous assembly, and the empire conferred on his son ; after 
which the pope returned to Rome. 

10. In order to give permanency to this revolution, Ebbo, 
whom Louis had raised from a servile condition to the see of 
Rheims, proposed the following extraordinary and iniquitous 
method. "A penitent," he said, " ought to be excluded from 
holding any civil office! therefore a king who is a penitent 
must be incapable of governing; consequently, to subject 
Louis to penance, will for ever bar his way to the throne." 
The advice was acted upon, Louis was compelled to perform 
public penance in the monastery of St. Medard de Soissons, 
and after having signed a written confession, was stripped of 
his royal robes, clothed in the habit of a penitent, and im- 
mured in a cell ; while Agobard was employed to write a 
vindication of all these horrors. 

11. But the prelates had proceeded too far; the cry 
Qo / of outraged nature and th-e voice of justice made a 

deep impression on the minds of the people ; Lothaire 
became the object of universal detestation, and a new revolu- 
tion restored Louis to his throne. His superstitious weakness 
became now more conspicuous than ever; he refused to re- 
sume the title of sovereign until he had received absolution, 
professed the most profound submission to Gregory, and, 
after a short suspension, restored Agobard to his former 
authority. 

12. A repetition of the same faults naturally pro- 
■ ■ duced the same misfortunes ; on the death of his son 

■ Pepin, Louis divided his dominions between Lothaire 
and Charles, to the exclusion of the Bavarian prince, who 
immediately had recourse to arms. While the emperor was 
on his march against this rebellious son, tortured with grief, 
and terrified by an eclipse of the sun which he deemed an 
evil omen, he fell sick in the neighbourhood of Mentz, where 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 39 

he expired in the twenty-eighth year of his reign. A pro- 
vision for his favourite son Charles occupied his attention 
even in his last moments, and he hequeathed to him the pro- 
vinces of Burgundy and Neustria, which was subsequently 
called Normandy. 

13. During this reign the Saracens having subdued Sicily, 
infested the Tuscan Sea and threatened to make themselves 
masters of Italy; and in the mean time the Normans con- 
tinued to ravage the coasts of Flanders and France. Thus 
with enemies on the north and south, discord, crime, and 
civil war raging within, Europe at this period presented a 
most lamentable picture ; the misfortunes of France above all 
demand our attention, for its crimes were the greatest and its 
sufferings were the most severe. 

14. A bad son will never make a good brother; 
scarcely had Lothaire been seated on the throne, when q\/ 
he prepared to strip his brothers of their dominions. 
Louis and Charles, united by common interest, marched 
against their eldest brother, and defeated him at Fontenai in 
Burgundy. Few battles have been more bloody than this ; 
historians differ as to the precise number of the slain, but all 
agree that the loss which France sustained in that fatal field, 
was one of the principal causes of the subsequent triumphs 
of the Norman invaders. 

15. hi order to procure the assistance of the Saxons, Lo- 
thaire had promised to suspend the laws of Charlemagne, 
which compelled them to observe the ordinances of Chris- 
tianity ; this afforded his brothers a pretence for endeavouring 
to procure his deposition. A numerous meeting of bishops 
was held at Aix-la-Chapelle, before whom the two princes 
preferred their complaint ; and the bishops having examined 
the charge, pronounced that Lothaire had forfeited his right 
to the empire, which they assigned over to his brothers. This 
decree would have been observed to its full extent, had Lo- 
thaire been as ready to obey it as his brothers. But this 
prince was still formidable, and compelled his rivals to a new 
treaty of partition, subsequently confirmed at Mersen on the 
Maes, by which he retained most of his former dominions. 

16. A few years after these transactions, Lothaire 
died; a little before his dissolution he commanded gig' 
himself to be clothed in a monkish dress ; a convenient 

piece of devotion, by which bad princes thought that their 
crimes might be expiated at the moment of death. His 



40 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

dominions were divided among his sons ; Louis had Italy with 
the title of emperor, Lothaire II. obtained that province which 
from him was called Lotharingia, and subsequently Lorraine^ 
and Charles had the kingdom of Provence. Thus the empire 
of Charlemagne was divided into a number of petty states, 
the mutual jealousies of which were productive of constant 
bloodshed. The dominions of Charles the Bald were the 
most unfortunate of these states ; governed by a prince who 
inherited the weakness of his father and the turbulent spirit 
of his mother, devastated by the Normans, who carried fire 
and sword to the very gates of Paris, and distracted by dis- 
sensions between the clergy and nobility, who, intent on their 
own petty jealousies, abandoned the state to its enemies. In 
this condition of affairs Charles was unable to make any re- 
sistance to the Normans, and when they sailed up the Seine 
to besiege Paris, he could only save the city by bribing them 
to retire ; a course of proceeding which only made them the 
more eager to return. 

17. The weakness of the successors of Charle- 
^" ^' magne, had stimulated the ambition of the popes to 
■ establish their authority over all the European 
monarchs, and an event which occurred about this time not 
a little contributed to their success. Lothaire II. king of Lor- 
raine, divorced his wife Teutberga on a false charge of incest. 
She had first justified herself by the ordeal of boiling water, 
but was subsequently convicted on her own confession, if a 
declaration extorted by threats and brutal violence, can be 
called by that name. Lothaire then married his concubine 
Valdrada, and persuaded a council of bishops assembled at 
Aix-la-Chapelle, to sanction his proceedings. 18. The 
flagrant iniquity of this act in some degree justified the inter- 
ference of the pope : it was perhaps his duty to have rebuked 
Lothaire, but Nicholas was resolved to bring him to trial. A 
council was assembled at Mentz which proceeded to examine 
into the affair, and, contrary to the universal expectation, it 
decided in favour of Lothaire. Nicholas deposed the bishops 
who had been most influential in procuring this decision, and 
sent a legate to threaten the king of Lorraine with prompt 
excommunication unless he recalled Teutberga. The intimi- 
dated monarch consented, and even gave up Valdrada to be 
taken as a prisoner to Rome. She however escaped on the 
road, and returning to Lorraine, was restored to her former 
honours ; while Teutberga, wearied out by the contest, as- 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 41 

sented to the nullity of her own marriage, and acknowledged 
her rival as legitimate queen. 19. This did not satisfy 
Nicholas; but death prevented his interference, and his suc- 
cessor, a prelate of greater moderation, contented himself with 
summoning Lothaire to Rome. That prince swore on the 
Holy Sacrament, that he was innocent of the crimes laid to 
his charge; and his death, which occurred soon after, was 
universally looked upon as the punishment of his perjury. 

20. The dominions of Lothaire were seized by his uncles, 
Charles the Bald and Louis the Germanic, to the exclusion 
of his brother the emperor Louis. In vain did pope Adrian 
threaten the king of France as an usurper ; supported by the 
celebrated Hencmar of Rheims, he issued a manifesto assert- 
ing the supremacy of the state over the church, and declaring 
that yVee men would not allow themselves to be enslaved by 
the bishop of Rome. The pope soon found means to annoy 
the French monarch ; Charles had shut up his two younger 
sons in a monastery ; Lothaire, who was lame and sickly, re- 
conciled himself to his lot, but Carloman resisted his father's 
determination, and found the pope an assistant in his rebel- 
lion. Carloman was eventually defeated, and obliged to seek 
an asylum in the court of Louis the Germanic. 

2L Meantime Louis II. died without male issue, 
and their mutual advantage persuaded the French q^p-* 
court and the holy see to lay aside their jealousies. 
Adrian wrote a friendly and even flattering letter to Charles ; 
his successor, John VIII. went farther, and crowned him as 
emperor at Pavia. About the same time died- Louis the Ger- 
manic, dividing his kingdom as usual among his three chil- 
dren. Charles made an ineffectual attempt to deprive them 
of their possessions, but was defeated with loss and disgrace. 
It appears a strange instance of imprudence that he should 
thus aim at foreign conquests, while he was unable to pre- 
serve his own dominions from the ravages of the Normans, 
who devastated the country in every direction. 

22. The Saracens still continued to lay waste the 
shores of Italy, and the pope, terrified at their progress, q~-' 
summoned the emperor to his assistance, threatening 
that he would deprive him of the empire in case of a refusal. 
Charles complied with the mandate, but he had scarcely ar- 
rived in Italy, when the news reached him that his nephew 
Carloman was on his march to deprive him of the imperial 
crown. He hasted to return to France, but on the road he 
4* 



42 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



was deserted by his lords, and being seized with disease, died 
miserably in a wretched hut by the way-side. 

23. This reign is remarkable as being that in which the 
feudal system was finally established. The government of 
provinces and districts, which had been previously held during 
pleasure, or at most for life, was by a capitulary enacted in 
the last year of this reign, made hereditary ; and thus the 
power of the nobles was firmly established on the ruins of 
the royal authority. 24. About this time also, the Gauls and 
Franks began to be amalgamated into one nation, and the lan- 
guage of the country, which had been previously a mixture 
of Latin and German, began to settle down into two dialects, 
deriving their name from the word in each that signified yes. 
The southern was called langue d^oc, and was the parent of 
the Proven9al or language of the Troubadours, the northerns 
used the langue d''oui, from which the modern French has 
been derived. 




THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 



43 




Chaiies tlie Balil. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE CONTINUED. 



In vain recorded in historic page 
They court the notice of a future age : 
Those twinkling tiny lustres of the land 
Drop one by one from Fame's neglecting hand ; 
Lethean gulfs receive them as they fall, 
And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all. 

CoWPER. 

1. Charles the Bald was succeeded by his son Louis, sur- 
named Le Begue, or the Stammerer, during whose brief reign 
of two years, no event of importance occurred. He 
left behind two sons, Louis and Carloman, and some 
months after his death, a posthumous son, Charles, 
was born, who was afterwards surnamed the Simple. 
III. and Carloman shared between them the dominions of 
their father, and lived together in harmony. But Bozon, the 
father-in-law of Carloman, dismembered the French monarchy 
by the erection of a new kingdom. A council, held at Mante, 
in Dauphiny, declared that they had been divinely inspired to 
give the kingdom of Aries, or, as it is more usually called, 



A. D. 

879. 
Louis 



44 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Provence, to the Duke of Bozon. 2. The pope sanctioned 
the proceeding, and personally crowned the new monarch, 
Bozon proved a wise and politic sovereign ; he preserved 
his little kingdom safe from all the calamities by which the 
rest of the country was devastated, and during several centu- 
ries Provence continued the centre of all the elegance and re- 
finement of France. 

3. The sons of Charles the Bald did not long pos- 
ojj . ■ sess the throne ; both died prematurely, and the right 

of inheritance devolved to Charles the Simple, then in 
his fifth year. The nobles of France saw that in the present 
condition of that country, an infant sovereign would precipi- 
tate the ruin of the state, and they therefore gave the crown 
to Charles, surnamed le Gros, or the Fat, the only surviving 
son of Louis the Germanic. As he had previously succeeded 
to the inheritance of his two brothers, and had obtained the' 
imperial crown from the pope, the greater part of the domi- 
nions of Charlemagne were again united under one head ; but 
that head, destitute of genius and courage, was unequal to the 
management of such extensive territories. 4. Charles was 
proud and cowardly; he was also rendered contemptible by 
his gluttony, and infamous by his disregard of treaties. Soon 
after his accession, he purchased a peace from the Normans, 
by yielding up to them the province of Friezland, and stipu- 
lating to pay them tribute ; but he again provoked their hos- 
tility by repeated acts of treachery, and they fell upon France 
with greater fury than ever. 5. Advancing through the coun- 

try, they burned Pontoise, and at length laid siege to 
Qg^' Paris. This siege is celebrated both in history and 

romance for the valiant resistance of the besieged. 
Eudes, Count of Paris, had put the town into a good state 
of defence, and augmented the garrison by the addition of 
several brave nobles, among whom two bishops, Goslin and 
Ansheric, were conspicuous. 6. For more than a year they 
held out, anxiously expecting the approach of their sovereign 
to raise the siege. At length he appeared at the head of a 
numerous army, but though almost sure of victory, he had 
not the spirit to hazard an engagement, but purchased the re- 
treat of the Normans by the payment of an enormous 
ransom. 

7. All the nations of the French empire were seized with a 
spirit of revolt, principally arising from their disgust at this 
disgraceful transaction. The Germans first took up arms, 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 45 




and elected Arnolph, a natural son of the king of Bavaria, as 
their sovereign. Italy submitted to the dukes of Friuli and 
Spoleto, and France chose as its sovereign, Eudes, the heroic 
defender of Paris. The unhappy Charles fell into a state of 
confirmed insanity ; deserted by his servants, and expelled 
from his palace, he would have wanted the common neces- 
saries of life but for the compassion of Luitbart, bishop 
of Mentz, and under the protection of that generous „' " 
prelate he terminated his miserable existence. 

8. Eudes had been elected king of France, but his domin- 
ions were limited to the provinces that lie between the Meuse 
and the Loire; even in this diminished territorythere were 
several principalities, whose submission to the sovereign was 
only nominal, of whom the counts of Flanders and Anjou 
were the most powerful. After a short time, the people of 
France became dissatisfied with the vigorous administration 
of Eudes, and the count of Vermandois united with 
the archbishop of Rheims to restore the throne to the qqo* 
rightful heir, Charles the Simple. 9. After some fight- 
ing, it was ' agreed to divide the kingdom between the two 
monarchs ; Eudes retaining Paris and its neighbourhood, 



46 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

while the court of Charles was established on the 
911. 



banks of the Moselle. At length Eudes died, and 



Charles became the sole monarch of France. 
10. After an absolute blank of some years, we meet with 
an account of the appearance of RoUo, the most celebrated 
of the Norman chieftains. He every where defeated the 
French forces, seized on Rouen, which he converted into a 
place of arms, and struck the king with so much terror, that 
he resolved to purchase peace on any conditions. He sent a 
bishop as an ambassador to Rollo, offering to give him his 
daughter in marriage, and cede the province of Neustria to 
him and his followers, provided that he should become a 
Christian, acknowledge the king of France as his feudal sove- 
reign, and aid in repelling any future invasions of his coun- 
trymen. Rollo, to whom religion was a matter of perfect 
indifference, assented to all the conditions, stipulating only 
that Bretagne should be ceded to him until the other province 
was cultivated. This was granted, the marriage soon after- 
wards took place, and Rollo paid homage to the crown more 
like a conqueror than a vassal. 

11. The weakness and incapacity of Charles became 
„■ * every day more apparent ; he allowed himself to be 

entirely governed by Haganon, a man of low birth, 
hated by the nobility, and despised by the people. Robert, 
brother of king Eudes, appeared in arms against him •, and 
Charles, instead of levying an army, assembled a council, 
where he procured the excommunication of his opponents. 
12. After a slight struggle, Robert was killed in battle, and 
his son, Hugh the Great, or the Abbot, though he might have 
obtained the crown for himself, chose rather to bestow it on 
Raoul or Rodolph, duke of Burgundy. Rodolph gained over 
the nobles by lavish donations of the land which still belonged 

to the crown ; Charles was made a prisoner, and his 
qon* queen Elgiva fled to the court of her brother Athelstan, 

king of England, accompanied by her son, a boy about 
nine years old. Herbert, count de Vernandois, had obtained 
possession of the person of the unhappy Charles, under the 
pretence of undertaking his defence ; but he detained him a 
prisoner, in order to procure good terms from Rodolph by 
threatening him with the liberation of his rival. By this 
means he procured the county of Laon from the new sove 
reign, and Charles soon afterwards died, poisoned, as it is said 
by the count de Vernandois. 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 47 

13. During his unhappy reign, France was for ever deprived 
of Germany and the empire. Despising the weakness of 
Charles the Simple, the German states unanimously elected 
Otho, duke of Saxony, to the imperial throne; but Otho de- 
clining it on account of his advanced age, proposed Conrad, 
duke of Franconia, and his choice was confirmed by the 
assembly of the states. This monarch died in 919, recom- 
mending to the nobility Henry, son of his benefactor Otho, as 
his successor. At a general'assembly of the states this recom- 
mendation was adopted ; and Henry, surnamed the Fowler, 
from his love of hawking, obtained possession of the empire. 
This prince and his immediate successors were celebrated for 
their valour and prudence ; they restored tranquillity to the 
middle of Europe, and thus the house of Saxony became the 
heirs both to the glory and power of Charlemagne. 

14. Though Rodolph was nominally king of France, all 
the real power of the state was lodged in the hands of Hugh 
the Great, who had raised him to the throne. In addition to 
his hereditary property, he enjoyed the revenues of so many 
abbeys, that he is frequently called the Abbot. The posses- 
sions of the church were now so great that they had attracted 
the cupidity of the laity, and though the papal see frequently 
endeavoured to check such a glaring abuse, it con- 
tinued to prevail during this and the following age. q^p.' 
Rodolph did not long enjoy the crown ; he survived 

the unhappy Charles about six years, leaving no children. 
Rollo, the conqueror of Normandy, died about three years 
before, leaving his son William, surnamed longue epee, or 
Long-sword, the heir both of his principality and his virtues 
The laws were at this time regulated pretty much by the 
king's will. The ancient Franks had an annual meeting, at 
which all th^ wars for the coming year were regulated, and 
the tribute due to the king was usually brought to him. 
These meetings were originally held in March, which wa=i 
the beginning of the old French year, and were called les 
Champs de Mars ; afterwards the time of meeting was in 
the month of May, and these meetings were then called les 
Champs d(i Mai. Besides these annual assemblies, there 
were, in the time of Charlemagne, frequent meetings held 
by the bishops and nobles, for discussing the business of the 
state : there were also lesser provincial parliaments for the 
regulation of the affairs of each province. 



48 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

As regards the nature of the laws in force at this period, 
it is extremely doubtful whether the Franks had any written 
system, code, or maxims of jurisprudence. It is generally 
believed, indeed, that they were governed by mere customs 
and traditions brought with them from Germany, and having 
reference chiefly to the unsettled life they had been accus- 
tomed to lead among their native wilds. This, however, is 
certain, that, in operation, the laws or customs were merely 
prohibitive, penal, and retributive ; and that almost every 
kind of offence might be compounded for with money. 
" The right concealed under this custom of composition," 
it has been said, "is that of every man to do himself justice, 
and to avenge himself by force. It is the war between the 
offender and the offended . . . the latter preserving, in the 
most barbarous times, the right of election between compo- 
sition and war, — of rejecting the wehrgeld, and having re- 
course to vengeance." Men's lives were valued at a fixed 
rate, according to their rank and station. The Frank, his 
wife, his free tenant, and his serf, were not estimated at the 
same sum, but their personal security was made matter of 
tariff. Though the wehrgeld of the king was highest of any, 
the life of the serf was likewise protected — from all but his 
master — by the pecuniary value set upon it. A leg, an 
arm, an eye, a finger, had each its separate worth, according 
to the wehr of its owner. From his lord the unhappy serf 
had no protection. He was a chattel upon the freeman's 
domain, and was constantly bought and sold as such, in the 
same way as a horse, or an ox, — his value being somewhat 
more than that of the latter and less than the former. He 
had no power to change his situation or condition, to move 
from one place of residence to another, or to marry, except 
with permission of his owner : — and if he did marry, the 
abominable law of mercheta taught him how abject was his 
slavery, and how barbarous the power and appetite of his 
conqueror. 




THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 49 




CHAPTER VI. 

THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE CONCLUDED. 

O mortal, mortal state! and what art thou? 
Even in thy glory comes the changing shade, 
And makes thee like a vision fade avi^ay ! 
And then misfortune takes the moisten'd sponge 
And clean effaces all the picture out. 

.^SCHTLUS. 

1. On the death of Rodolph, the supreme power 
remained in the hands of Hugh, who, in addition to ^'^„' 
the county of Paris, his paternal inheritance, possessed 
the duchies of France and Burgundy. Either disliking the 
title of king, or dreading the jealousy of the nobles, Hugh a 
second time refused the crown, and invited Louis, the son 
of Charles, to return from his place of refuge in England, 
5 D 



50 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

and assume the reins of government. 2. Athelstan dreading 
some treachery, endeavoured to dissuade his nephew from 
compliance ; but the young prince was eager to return to his 
country, and the character of Plugh removed all grounds of 
apprehension. Louis, surnanied cP Outremer^ or the Stranger, 
was received on his landing with the greatest respect ; Hugh 
conducted him to Rheims, where he was crowned by the title 
of Louis IV. 3. Louis was superior to his predecessors in 
ability and courage, but he was destitute of honour and in- 
tegrity, deficiencies which made all his other qualities ineffec- 
tual. Hugh had indeed invited Louis to return, but had not 
the slightest intention of giving up the administration. The 
king made an attempt to obtain the reins of power, but Hugh 
then became his enemy, placed him under restraint, and did 
not restore his liberty until he had ceded the county of Laon, 
which was almost the only part of the royal domains that re- 
mained unappropriated. 

4. Hugh had been excommunicated by several councils, 
and even by the pope : the clergy, and especially the bishops 
of Lorraine, consequently embraced the cause of Louis, and 
thus originated a war which continued for several years. 
The principal ally of Hugh in this conflict was William 
Longue epee, duke of Normandy, one of the bravest nobles 
of the time. 5. The count of Flanders adopted the royal 
cause, and having a private quarrel with the duke of Nor- 
mandy, procured him to be assassinated under circumstances 
of the greatest treachery. William left a young son named . 
Richard, whom Louis brought to court under pretence of un- 
dertaking the care of his education. 6. The count of Flan- 
ders instigated the king to murder the orphan, but by a strata- 
gem of Osmond, his governor, the young prince was rescued 
from their grasp, and placed under the protection of his ma- 
ternal uncle, the count de Senlis. Soon after these 
g\g" transactions Louis was made a prisoner by the count 
de Senlis, and could not obtain his freedom until he 
had restored several places in Normandy, which he had un- 
justly seized on. Richard was at length established in his 
dukedom ; he was a good and a pious prince, equally con- 
spicuous for his personal graces and moral qualifications. 
The Norman historians called him Richard Sans Peur, or 
the Fearless, and relate many anecdotes of his piety, charity, 
and intrepidity. 

7. Louis d'Outremer died in the thirty-third year of his 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 51 

age, by a fall from his horse, leaving behind him two 
sons, Lothaire and Charles. Lothaire was only four- ' ' 
teen years old when he began to reign, but the go- 
vernment was so well administered by his mother and her 
brother, St. Bruno, that for three years France enjoyed a pro- 
found tranquillity. Hugh the Great died two years after 
Louis, and his son Hugh Capet inherited both his wealth and 
his ambition. 8. Lorraine, an ancient fief of the French 
crown, had been seized on by the German emperor, and Otho, 
to secure the possession, bestowed it as a fief on Charles the 
brother of Lothaire. This arrangement equally displeased 
the French king and the people ; Lothaire was indignant at 
the loss of the province, and the nation considered their 
honour degraded by one of their princes becoming tributary 
to a foreign power. 9. Lothaire, without waiting to publish 
a declaration of war, invaded the dominions of Otho, and 
nearly made the young emperor a prisoner at Aix-la-Chapelle ; 
so completely was he surprised, that he was obliged to rise 
from the table where he was sitting at dinner and trust to the 
fleetness of his horse for escape. Lothaire stripped the palace 
at Aix-la-Chapelle of every thing valuable, and returned to 
Paris laden with booty. 10. Otho in turn invaded France, 
and advanced to the very gates of Paris, but Hugh Capet had 
so well secured the town, that Otho was compelled to vent 
his rage in empty menaces. 11. On his return, Otho had to 
cross the river Aisne, but as his army arrived on the banks 
late in the day, the emperor and a part of the army only could 
pass over ; during the night the water rose so considerably 
that the second division were unable to ford the stream. In 
this situation they were attacked by Lothaire, and Otho had 
the mortification of witnessing the defeat of his army, with- 
out being able to afford them any assistance. At length he 
sent over the count of Ardennes in a small skiff, to challenge 
Lothaire to single combat : the French nobles would not per- 
mit this challenge to be accepted, declaring that they did not 
wish to lose their own king, and that under no circumstances 
would they recognise Otho as a sovereign. 
^ 12. Peace was eventually concluded between the 
rival monarchs, and soon after Lothaire died. His son ngn, 
and successor, Louis V. survived him but a few months, 
and Charles, duke of Lorraine, was now the sole survivor of 
the race of Charlemagne. But the character of Charles was 
odious to the French people, his acceptance of Lorraine as a 



52 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

fief of the empire was looked on as an act of treason against 
his country; the nation therefore rejected him, and chose as 
their monarch Hugh Capet, count of Paris, whose family, lilie 
the ancient mayors of the palace, had long been the real sove- 
reigns of France. 

13. Before entering on the history of a new dynasty, it 
will be useful to take a view of the state of society during 
the period whose history we have just completed ; because 
there were many institutions originated in those dark ages, 
which long exercised a powerful influence over the whole of 
Europe. Those which more particularly demand our atten- 
tion are the usurpations of the church, the establishment of 
the feudal system, and the institution of chivalry. The in- 
crease of power acquired by the clergy during the reigns of 
Charlemagne's successors, was for the most part owing to 
their being the sole depositaries of learning. Ignorance had 
risen to such a height in the West, that few persons except 
the monks could either read or write. Hence they brought 
under their cognizance some of tlie most important relations 
of life, and became the registrars and judges in all matters 
connected with contracts, marriages, and wills. This pro- 
duced a mixture of civil and ecclesiastical law, which created 
the most fatal confusion among all ranks, while it opened to 
the clergy new sources of wealth and power. 14. In mar- 
riage especially their interference was productive of many 
serious evils. Under the first Christian emperors marriage 
had always been considered as a civil contract, and as such 
subjected to the control of the general legislature ; but the 
clergy averred that marriage was a sacrament, and, therefore, 
could only be regulated by ecclesiastical authority. They 
formed new obstacles of consanguinity and affinity, which 
they carried to such a length that people scarcely knew where 
to find a lawful wife ; for there was none within the seventh 
degree. As the popes assumed a special right of determining 
on this important subject, and of granting dispensations, they 
obtained a power of interfering in the domestic concerns of 
princes, which they frequently perverted to the worst of 
purposes. 

15. Religion was overwhelmed with a multitude of cere- 
monies ; pilgrimages, the procuring of relics, offerings, and 
legacies to the church, were represented as of more value and 
importance than piety and virtue ; nay, were even considered 
as an expiation of the most atrocious crimes. The censures 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 53 

of the church, which in a purer age had been used to check 
transgressions, were now made the instruments of party ven- 
geance. Tiie priesthood, originally designed to bless, was 
more employed in cursing ; excommunications were inflicted 
according to the dictates of policy or revenge, and hurled 
against nobles or princes whom the prelates were anxious 
either to plunder or enslave. 

10. The manners of the clergy themselves were a scandal 
to religion. Scarcely were they acquainted with common 
decency. Debauchery and vice spread their sway over the 
entire ecclesiastical body, and not unfrequently found their 
way to the papal throne. The possessions of the church 
were openly exposed to sale, and ecclesiastical dignities were 
either the purchase of bribery, or the reward of violence. 
The sovereigns were unable to restrain these excesses, for the 
clergy asserted their independence of every civil tribunal ; in 
many instances they appealed to the pope to remedy these 
evils, and thus aflbrded precedents for papal interference, which 
they afterwards had reason to lament. 

17. But the great source of the power which the popes 
soon after obtained, and the great support of their subsequent 
influence, arose from the creation of several new monastic 
orders. The monastic reformation of Clugny took its rise 
about the beginning of the tenth century, and its progress was 
amazingly rapid. The monks of this order, distinguished for 
their piely and austerity, seemed, in an age of general de- 
pravity, like angels sent from heaven to save the human race. 
They soon triumphed over all the ancient orders, as well as 
the secular clergy ; but the wealth that had corrupted their 
predecessors, proved equally fatal to their virtues. The court 
of Rome lavished upon them unheard-of privileges ; exempt- 
ing them from every jurisdiction except their own, and bind- 
ing them to her interest by every imaginable tie. In return, 
they exalted every where the power of the popes ; besides, 
being accustomed from their youth to obey the commands of 
a superior with the same implicit submission as the mandates 
of Heaven, they were easily led to suppose that the head of 
the church was invested with unbounded authority. Thus, 
in the subsequent age, did religion serve more than ever as a 
pretext for the greatest excesses : it entered into all affairs of 
importance, and was the primary spring of all events. It is, 
therefore, necessary to be acquainted with the errors and 
abuses by which it was corrupted ; for at that time theology 
5* 



54 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

mingled with all political transactions, and seemed to have 
absorbed the mental powers of mankind, who certainly were 
never so little acquainted either with politics or religion. 

18. The establishment of the feudal system made the 
nobles independent sovereigns in their respective districts 
the greater part were tyrants in their own domains, and rob- 
bers in those of others. Hence arose innumerable private 
wars which kept the country in continual anarchy, and the 

very remedies applied to cure the evil, were sources 
- ■ ■ of fresh calamity. 19. The bishops, to check these 

enormities, published what they called " The Truce 
of God,^'' enacting, ttiat from Wednesday evening until Mon- 
day morning, no act of violence should be committed, under 
pain of fine and excommunication. But this was found too 
severe a law, and the truce was .subsequently shortened to the 
IntCTval between sunset on Saturday and sunrise on Monday; 
so that during all the rest of the week, murder and robbery 
might seem to be authorized. 

20. The institution of chivalry served in some degree to 
alleviate these horrors. Romaniic notions of honour, and an 
extravagant devotion to the fair sex, however absurd in 
modern times, were a check to many extravagances in an age 
of violence. And when justice in courts of law was impos- 
sible to be obtained, the existence of a body of men sworn 
to redress wrongs, and defend innocence, could not have been 
wholly destitute of utility. It must be confessed, however, 
that chivalry tended to keep alive the love of war, and a thirst 
for military adventure, which, in a subsequent age, caused 
those calamitous wars, ihe crusades; but it also introduced a 
spirit of generosity which often softened the horrors of war 
by noble instances of magnanimity and humanity. 

The tournaments were so exactly suited to the temper of 
the French, that their fondness for them became almost a 
madness. Even the ladies used to be present at them, and 
entered with the greatest vivacity into the success of the 
several combatants. They would encourage their favourite 
knights by decking them with ribands and scarfs from their 
own dress, and during a long and anxious combat, the poor 
ladies would appear at last almost stripped of their finery, 
which was seen tied to the armour of the combatants. In time 
the cost of these tournaments was carried to an inordinate 
excess ; and there are many instances in which a French 
noble has been contented to end his days in distress, and to 



THE CARLOVINGIAN RACE. 



55 



consign his children to poverty and obscurity, for the sake 
of giving a splendid tournament. Their dress and the equip- 
ment of themselves and their horses were in itself an enor- 
mous expense. 




Ship of the Tenth Century. 



56 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Hugh Capet. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF HUGH CAPET TO THE FIRST 
CRUSADE. 



Ill hap attend 
That worst of traitors, a perfidious friend! 
Loyal in guise, his serpent-coil he winds 
Round the frank singleness of noble minds. 



Wat. 



1. The abilities of Hugh Capet did not rise above 
gQ«' the standard of mediocrity, but he possessed a great 
share of strong sound sense, and that practical know- 
ledge which is commonly called worldly wisdom. Perceiving 
the vast influence of the clergy, he gained them over to his 
side by renouncing the rich abbeys which his father had pos- 
sessed, and through their means spread a report, that St. 
Riquier, whose shrine he had visited barefoot, had made him 
a promise of the crown. In an assembly held at IVoyons he 
was formally elected king, and was immediately after conse- 
crated at Rheims. 



HUGH CAPET. 57 

2. Charles of Lorraine did not endure his exclusion pa- 
tiently ; but as he was unable to cope with his adversary in 
the field, he had recourse to treachery and fraud. Arnolph, 
the illegitimate son of his brother Lothaire, was a priest at 
Laon ; through his means, Charles being admitted into the 
town, took possession of the palace of his ancestors, and was 
proclaimed king by the old retainers of his family. Ancelin, 
bishop of Laon, took a prominent part in these transactions, 
and thus acquired the confidence of Charles, whom he had 
previously determined to betray. 3. Capet, alarmed at the 
progress of his rival, endeavoured to detach Arnolph from his 
interest, and accordingly raised him to the archbishopric of 
Rheims. But Arnolph proved ungrateful to his benefactor ; 
he admitted Charles into Rheims, but to save appearances, 
required the prince of Lorraine to send him as a prisoner to 
Laon. 4. Hugh at length levied an army, and formed the 
siege of Laon, but his forces were defeated by an unexpected 
sally of the enemy, and he was compelled to retreat. Pros- 
perity was ruinous to Charles ; believing that the rais- 
ing of the siege of Laon left him in perfect security, ggn' 
he gave himself up to ease and enjoyment. This was 
the opportunity which Ancelin had long expected ; he in- 
vited Hugh to approach the town, opened the gates to him 
during the night, and made liim master of the persons both 
of Charles and his queen. They both died in confinement, 
leaving behind them two sons, who were born in prison, and 
two daughters, who, having remained in Germany, escaped 
the captivity of their parents. 5. The sons of Charles ap- 
pear to have been taken under the protection of the emperor 
of Germany, and to have resigned all claims to the throne of 
France. A descendant of one of the daughters was married 
to Philip Augustus, and through her the late royal family 
of France claim to be descended from Charlemagne. 6. The 
trial of Arnolph soon after this engaged the attention of the 
state. His partisans maintained that this cause ought to be 
carried before the pope, but the Bishop of Orleans strenuously 
maintained the contrary, and persuaded the council to adopt 
the same opinion. The king came in person to pass sen- 
tence, when Arnolph threw himself at his feet, promising 
obedience for the future. His life was spared, but he was 
deprived of his see, and the celebrated Gerbert appointed in 
his stead. 7. Gerbert had been originally the son of a pea- 
sant, afterwards he became a monk at Aurillac, and soon out- 



.58 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




A.D. 
996. 



stripped all his brethren in literature and science. The envy 
of the other monks compelled him to quit his convent, he 
passed into Spain, and there studied mathematics and natural 
philosophy among the Arabians. The fame that he acquired 
in these pursuits, made him suspected by the vulgar as a 
magician, but recommended him also to the emperor of Ger- 
many and the king of France, as a fit tutor for their children. 
8. The fortune and merit of the new archbishop made him 
an object of envy to the Frencli prelates ; they appealed to 
the court of Rome against Arnolph's deprivation, because the 
consent of the pope had not been previously obtained. The 
pope sent a legate into France, and Hugh, who dreaded a 
quarrel with his holiness, was compelled to deprive Gerbert 
and restore Arnolph. 9. But the fortune of both was only 
changed in appearance ; Arnolph was detained in prison, but 
Gerbert obtained the archbishopric of Ravenna from his 
former pupil, Otho III, emperor of Germany, and eventually 
became pope under the title of Silvester II. 

10. Hugh died in 
the tenth year of his 
reign, and was suc- 
ceeded by his son, Robert I., 
surnamed the Pious, whom 
the old French historians 
describe as a saint, and the 
moderns as an idiot ; to a 
weak intellect, he imited a 
scrupulous and ignorant de- 
votion, whicli exposed him 
to the artifices of an ambi- 
tious and enterprising clergy. 
11. He married Bertha, 
daughter of Conrad, duke of 
Burgundy, who was equally 
distinguished by her good 
temper and beautiful person. 
Unfortunately, she was fourth cousin to the king, a degree 
prohibited by the canons of the Romish church ; and though 
several French bishops had assented to the marriage. Pope 
Gregory V. undertook to annul it. 12. Accordingly, without 
even hearing the parties, he issued a decree, ordering the king 
and queen to separate under pain of excommunication, and 
suspending all the bishops who had been accomplices in their 



Robert the Pious. 



HUGH CAPET. 59 

pretended crime. Robert, passionately attached to his wife, 
made no haste to comply, but reckoned himself as excommu- 
nicated. 13. Such was the superstition of the period, that he 
was immediately forsaken by all his courtiers ; only two do- 
mestics continued their services, and even they cleansed with 
tire the plates used at table by the king, believing that they 
were polluted by his sacrilegious touch. 

14. Robert, worn out by importunity, and dreading a revolt, 
at length consented to a divorce, and Bertha retired to a con- 
vent. The king's next marriage was with Constance, daugh- 
ter of the count of Aries ; a woman of insatiable ambition, 
proud, cruel, fond of expense, and totally devoted to pleasure. 
Robert found his court insupportable, he gave himself up en- 
tirely to the monks, and spent his time in the practice of 
superstitious austerities ; while the queen, with her train of 
troubadours and young Provengal nobles, filled the palace 
with noisy festivity. 15. About this time, the news 
of the cruelties practised on the Christians of Palestine , ' ' 
by the Saracens excited the indignation of all Europe. 
Pope Silvester II. preached up a crusade, but ineflectually, and 
the wrath of Christendom was vented on the Jews. These 
unfortunate people, whose persecution in the middle ages 
was almost considered a virtue, were suspected of acting as 
spies for the Saracens, and on this vague suspicion numbers 
were ruthlessly massacred. 

16. Henry, duke of Burgundy, brother to Hugh Capet, 
dying without issue, Otho William, his wife's son by a former 
husband, took possession of his dominions. Robert, conceiv- 
ing that his own claim to the duchy was superior, proceeded 
to assert it by force of arms. As he was not a warrior him- 
self, he summoned to his aid the duke of Normandy; and 
having by his means assembled a considerable army, he laid 
siege to Auxerre. Near the town was an abbey sacred to 
Saint Germain, which it was necessary to storm previous to 
the assault of the garrison. When the royal troops were 
about to advance to the attack, a priest met the king, and 
warned him not to violate the sanctuary of the saint ; while 
he was yet speaking, a mist rose from a neighbouring river ; 
superstition magnified this common event into a miraculous 
appearance ; the soldiers exclaimed that the saint had come 
to defend his temple, and took to flight with their king at 
their head. After this strange termination of the first cam- 
paign, the war lingered a few months longer ; it eventually 



60 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



terminated by William's resigriing the dukedom to the king, 
but retaining all the power and real advantages of sovereignty 
under the humbler title of count of Burgundy. 

17. Robert's eldest son died young; the second was an 
idiot, and Henry was therefore chosen by Robert as his suc- 
cessor. This arrangement was opposed by Constance, who 
endeavoured to secure the crown for her younger son Robert ; 
the strict friendship that existed between the brothers, and 
the unexpected firmness of Robert, defeated her intrigues : 
she, however, succeeded so far as to fill the royal 
, ■ ■ family with quarrels and disunion. The inglorious 
reign of Robert terminated in the sixtieth year of his 
age ; on his return from a pilgrimage he was seized with a 
violent fever at Melun, which soon ended his life. 

18. Henry I. was about 
twenty years of age when he 
succeeded to the throne ; 
Constance and Robert op- 
posed his accession, but by 
the aid of the duke of Nor- 
mandy he triumphed over all 
opposition. Constance retired 
to a convent, where she soon 
after died ; as the king be- 
lieved that his brother's hos- 
tility had arisen more from 
the persuasion of his mother 
than his own inclinations, he 
not only restored him to his 
confidence, but gave him the 
province of Burgundy. 19. 
The most remarkable circum- 
stance in the reign of this 
prince is, that he took for his 
second wife Anne, daughter of Jarodislas, czar of Muscovy. 
The obstacles to marriage were so greatly multiplied, and the 
example of his father so terrifying, that he thought it expe- 
dient to send for a wife into a country then almost unknown, 
rather than encounter the dangers of an excommunication. 
20. The evils that had arisen from the disorders of the clergy 
and the feuds of the nobles, appear to have reached their 
height. Hildebrand, who was afterwards pope under the name 
of Gregory VII., laboured strenuously and successfully to sub- 




Henry 1. 



HUGH CAPET. 61 

ject all Europe to the despotism of the church ; he virtually 
ruled the holy see long before his election to the papal throne, 
and directed all his efforts to subject monarchs and emperors 
to the papacy. The private wars of the nobles were more 
like those of princes than subjects, and during the reign of 
Henry, several pitched battles were fought, attended with un- 
usual slaughter. 

21. Henry at his death left three sons, of whom 
Philip, the eldest, was onlj/' seven years old. Pur- ^^r.^ 
suant to the will of the late king, the regency was en- 
trusted to Baldwin, earl of Flanders, who took better care of 
the monarchy than of the monarch. Philip was permitted 
to grow up uneducated, the slave of uncontrolled passions 
and unregulated desires. 22. In his fourteenth year he was 
freed from all restraint by the death of his guardian, and soon 
after was involved in a war with Robert, count of Friezland. 
Philip was compelled to make peace with the count, and as 
one of the conditions, was obliged to marry Robert's step- 
mother. The king was by no means pleased with the match, 
and after some years divorced her on the plea of con- 
sanguinity. 23. He then enticed from her husband, i/^qq 
Bertrade, the wife of Fulk, count of Anjou, and openly 
married her in spite of every remonstrance. Pope Urban II., 
after many ineffectual threats, excommunicated Philip; the 
monarch took no notice of the proceeding, but continued to 
live with Bertrade, deriving new hopes from the death of his 
former wife, and from the consent of Fulk, who bore the loss 
of his faithless spouse with great patience. 

24. The conquests of the Saracens in the east, and 
especially the capture of Jerusalem, had alarmed the ifiq/ 
emperor of Constantinople for his safety ; in an evil 
hour he wrote to the pope, soliciting him to stir up the west- 
ern princes to form a league against the Saracens. The con- 
sequence of the papal exertions was the Crusades, or Holy 
Wars,* but before we enter on the history of that eventful 

* Not one king enrolled himself in the ranks of ihe first crusade ; 
but a multitude of powerful nobles and knights were engaged, 
together with priests and inferior leaders, sufficiently numerous of 
themselves to have formed an army; and the mass of the common 
people was greater than, in all probability, had ever before been 
mustered for the accomplishment of any one object. The condi- 



62 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



period, it is necessary to give some account of the province 
of Normandy, from which England had about this time re- 
ceived a new race of sovereigns. 

tion of the general body of the array, however, was far from being 
such as would have satisfied a skilful general. The various corps 
had no connection with each other. The majority were undis- 
ciplined, unaccustomed to the use of arms and to long marches, 
and resembled a miscellaneous rabble rather than a host of war- 
riors. Among the whole of those who first set forth, there were 
but eight horsemen; a circumstance which led to the observation 
of an historian that "it was no wonder that a bird, with such short 
wings, and so long a tail, should not be able to take a distant 
flight." Then, so ignorant and superstitious were they, that, in- 
stead of making due provision for their march, they relied literally 
and implicitly upon the assurance of the pope, that "no accidents 
or dangers could attend them on their march ; for that Jesus, in 
whose service they had volunteered would protect and preserve 
them, if they would but devoutly trust in him." 




HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 



63 




The Ship in which William the Conqueror sailed to England. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 

0"er the glad waters of the dark blue sea, 
Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free, 
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, 
Survey our empire and behold our home. 

BxEON. 



1. The nations who successively invaded southern Europe 
from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, were originally de- 
scended from the same stock ; but when, by conquest, they 
had obtained a settlement in any country, they gradually 
adopted the arts of the vanquished, and laid aside their habits 
of plunder for the more useful pursuits of agriculture. The 
next horde of invaders refused to acknowledge these degene- 
rate warriors as their countrymen, and inflicted on them the 
same calamities which they had caused the original inhabi- 
tants to suffer. The Saxons in Britain, the Goths and Franks 



64 HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 

in Gaul, found in the Danes or Normans the avengers of the 
cruelties which they had previously practised on the Celtic 
population. The severe persecution of the Saxons by Char- 
lemagne induced many of their bravest warriors to fly into 
Scandinavia; their representation of the cruelties practised on 
the worshippers of Odin, stimulated their brethren of the 
north to prepare for revenge, and we have already seen that 
even in the reign of Charlemagne, the northern shores of 
France were devastated by Scandinavian pirates. 

2. The invasion of Rollo, in the reign of Charles 
„■ * the Simple, was the last of their plundering expedi- 
tions ; by an agreement with that monarch, who was 
anxious to save his country from devastation, and to secure 
for himself an active body of partisans, the province of Neus- 
tria, and the hand of the king's daughter, were given to Rollo, 
who thenceforward took the title of Robert I., duke of Nor- 
mandy. The remains of the Celtic Gauls, who had been 
cruelly oppressed by the Franks, gladly submitted to the 
equitable administration of Rollo, and the number of his sub- 
jects was continually increased by parties of the aboriginal 
natives, who sought, under a new master, relief from the op- 
pression of their former conquerors. 3. But the Normans 
were not so successful in obtaining the affections of the inha- 
bitants of Brittany, whom Charles, unable to subdue himself, 
had transferred to his new allies. This province, situated at 
the north-western extremity of Gaul, was known to the 
Romans by the name of Armorica •, it was inhabited by the 
bravest Celtic tribes, and had successfully resisted most of the 
invaders who had seized on the rest of Gaul. 4. When the 
Saxons had established their dominion in Britain, many of the 
ancient inhabitants removed to Armorica, with the consent 
of the ancient inhabitants, who acknowledged them as brethren 
of the same origin ; the new settlers distributed themselves 
over the whole northern coast, as far as the territory of the 
Veneti, now called Vannes. The name of Brittany was 
thenceforth given to this province. The increase of the 
population of this western corner of the country, and the great 
number of people of the Celtic race and language thus assem- 
bled within a narrow space, preserved them from the irruption 
of the Roman tongue, which, under a form more or less cor- 
rupt, had gradually become prevalent in every other part of 
Gaul. 5. Remembering the evils that had forced them to 
become exiles, the Bretons had a vehement dislike of all 



HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 65 

foreign rule, and under every change of fortune, were eager 
to seize an opportunity for asserting their independence. 
6. Under the command of their Tierns, or Counts, as the 
Normans called them, Alan and Berenger, they made a des- 
perate resistance to Robert, and were with difficulty subdued. 
The conqueror appears to have exercised his victory with 
moderation, and to have been contented with receiving homage 
from the leaders as their feudal suzerain. 

7. The conduct of the Norman duke, and his successors 
in their dominions, is honourably contrasted with that of 
their contemporaries. Robert gave his subjects a charter, 
provided for the due administration of justice; and encouraged 
strangers to settle in his dominions. The historians describe 
the tranquillity and security of Normandy during his reign, 
by assuring us that ornaments of gold and silver were ex- 
posed unguarded on the highways without any danger 
of their being carried off by robbers. 8. Robert re- „' ' 
signed the crown to his son William, called Longue- 
epee, or Long-sword, and spent the remaining three years of 
his life in retirement. 

9. An insurrection of the Bretons, and a more formidable 
rebellion of the Normans, broke out during the first years of 
William's reign ; but by united valour and prudence he sup- 
pressed both, and treading in the steps of his father, applied 
himself diligently to the improvement of his dominions. 
The Danes maintained a friendly intercourse with the con- 
querors of Normandy ; and when Harold, king of Denmark, 
was dethroned by his rebellious son Sweyn, he sought refuge 
in the Norman court, and owed his restoration to the friend- 
ship and valour of William. 10. To succour unfor- 
tunate princes, seems to have been the fated employ- „' " 
ment of the Norman duke. When Hugh, count of 
Paris, endeavoured to deprive Louis d'Outremer of the throne, 
William exerted his utmost efforts in behalf of the rightful 
sovereign of France, and was the principal means of securing 
him on the throne. With similar generosity, he embraced 
the cause of Herbin, count of Montreuil, whom his treacher- 
ous neighbour Arnold, count of Flanders, had expelled from 
his dominions. William defeated the usurper in a decisive 
engagement, and rejected every reward which the restored 
nobleman offered to him. 11. But this expedition was the 
cause of his death. Arnold, enraged at his defeat, resolved 
6* E 



66 HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 



A, D. 

942, 



to employ treachery, since open force had failed ; he 
solicited an interview with William in one of the is- 
lands of the Somme, and having craftily separated the 
duke from his attendants, caused him to be assassinated. 

12. Richard I. was but a child at the time of his father's 
death, but the administration of affairs was undertaken by 
four Norman nobles, of whom Bernard, count of Harcourt, 
commonly called Bernard the Dane, was the chief Louis, 
who owed his crown to William, ungratefully conspired with 
Hugh, count of Paris, to strip his son of his dominions. 
With this design he entered Normandy, at the head of a nu- 
merous army, pretending that his intention was merely to 
avenge the murder of the late duke : but after he had been 
received as a friend at Rouen, he seized on the person of the 
young duke, and sent him off to Paris under the pretence of 
having him properly educated. 13. At the instigation of the 
countof Flanders, Louis designed the assassination of Richard, 
but he was rescued from the danger by the fidelity of his tutor 
Osmond. This faithful attendant went to the castle of Laon, 
where his young master was confined, and under pretence of 
going to feed his horse, conveyed him out of the castle en- 
veloped in a truss of hay. They directed their course to the 
residence of the Count de Senlis, Richard's maternal uncle, 
and reached their place of refuge in safety. 14. Meantime 
the gratitude of a prince whom William had benefited, was 
about to be displayed by the restoration of his son to his do- 
minions. Bernard, count of Harcourt, had successfully ex- 
erted himself to sow disunion between the French king and 
the count of Paris ; he had also sent a secret message to 
Harold, king of Denmark, informing him of the state of 
affairs, and entreated him to aid in the deliverance of Nor- 
mandy from the dominion of the French. Harold came at 
the first summons ; the Normans, headed by Bernard, has- 
tened to join him, and Louis, unable to compete with their 
united forces in the field, solicited an interview to settle the 
terms of peace. While the two kings were discussing the 
articles, a Norman, recognising the count of Montreuil in the 
hostile army, bitterly reproached him with his ingratitude, 
and, when he made a haughty reply,aDane that was present 
struck him dead. This became the signal for a general en- 
gagement, which commenced before the two kings had heard 
of the transaction. The French were totally defeated, and 
Louis made prisoner ; his captors treated him with great re- 



HISTORY OF NORBIANDY. 67 

spect, but he was obliged to restore Normandy to the young 
duke, and pay a heavy ransom before he could obtain his 
liberty. 15. Richard was surnamed Sans Peur, or the Fear- 
less; he inherited* all the noble qualities of his race, and 
though surrounded by powerful enemies, preserved his domi- 
nions secure and tranquil. His marriage with the daughter 
of Hugh the Great alarmed the fears of Louis ; he entered 
into an alliance with Olho, emperor of Germany, Conrad, 
king of Burgundy, and Arnold, count of Flanders, to over- 
whelm both Hugh and Richard. But the efforts of the allies' 
were every where unfortunate : unable to make any impres- 
sion on Paris, they directed their march towards Normandy, 
where Richard cut off some of their best soldiers in an am- 
buscade, and repulsed them from before the walls of Rouen 
with loss and disgrace. 

16. On the death of Hugh the Great, Richard was ap- 
pointed guardian to his children, and by his fidelity in the 
execution of that office, again provoked the hostility of the 
French monarch. After a long struggle, in which the Nor- 
mans were every where successful, Richard triumphed over 
the treachery and the forces of his opponents, and compelled 
them to beg a peace. Some years after, Hugh Capet, 
aided by his former guardian, obtained the throne of qq^.' 
France, and thus changed that from a hostile into a 
friendly country. The rest of Richard's reign was spent in 
profound peace, and at his death Normandy was one of the 
most flourishing countries in Europe. 17. Richard H., sur- 
named the good and intrepid, succeeded. The early part 
of his reign was disturbed by an insurrection of the peasantry, 
and by the rebellion of his natural brother, the count de 
Hiemes. Richard having quelled his adversaries, shut up his 
brother in a prison, where he remained five years. 
Having at length made his escape, he suddenly pre- , jj„„' 
sented himself before Richard, while he was hunting, 
in a squalid dress, and earnestly solicited forgiveness. The 
duke generously granted him his pardon, and restored all his 
former possessions. 18. The throne of England was at this 
time possessed by Ethelred, who with difficulty maintained 
himself against the Danes ; to secure a powerful ally, he mar- 
ried Emma, sister to the duke of Normandy; but no aid that 
he could obtain was sufficient to repel the invasion of Sweyn, 
the Danish monarch ; and Ethelred, compelled to abandon 
his kingdom, lived for some time in exile at the court of his 



68 HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 

brother-in-law. 19. The king of France, having united with 
some of the princes who bordered on Normandy, Richard 
found himself unable to resist the coalition alone, and soli- 
cited the aid of the Danes. A numerous army was sent to 
his assistance, but he found that his allies were more injurious 
to his cause than even his enemies. The king of France 
having agreed on terms of peace, the Danes, enraged at losing 
the prospect of plunder, turned their arms against Brittany, 
where they committed the most frightful outrages. Richard 
was obliged to purchase their departure with a large sum of 
money, and from this time forward, the intercourse between 
Denmark and iSTormandy appears to have declined. 20. So 
great was the duke's character for honour, thatGeoifry, count 
of Brittany, with M'hom he had been often at war, nominated 
the Norman regent of that province, during his absence on a 
pilgrimage. Geoffry was accidentally killed, but Richard 
acted as a faithful guardian to his children, and when they 
came of age, gave them immediate possession of their father's 
territories. 21, On the death of Ethelred, Canute became 
sole monarch of England, and queen Emma, with her two 
children, were compelled to take refuge in the court of her 

brother. Richard prepared to invade England, but his 
1028 ^^^^ being shattered in a storm, he made peace with 

Canute, and gave him Emma as his wife. 22. The 
sons of Ethelred seemed by this specification to have lost all 
chance of inheriting the British crown ; but several years 
after, Canute's sons having died without heirs, Edward, sur- 
named the Confessor^ returned from exile, and obtained the 
throne of his ancestors. Richard, after a long and successful 
reign, died, leaving behind him two sons, Richard and Robert. 

23. Richard III. did not long survive his father; after a 
short reign of eighteen months, he died at Rouen, poisoned, 
as is believed, by his brother. 

24. Robert II., surnamed the liberal and magnificent^ suc- 
ceeded his brother; the early part of his reign was disturbed 
by insurrections, but he so completely subdued them, that he 

thought he might with safety venture on a pilgrimage 
'„ * to Palestine. The climate of Asia completely de- 
stroyed his health, and he was obliged to complete his 
journey in a litter. Another Norman pilgrim returned from 
the holy city, met Robert, supported by four Saracens ; he 
asked the duke what account he should give of him on his 
return .? " Tell my friends," said Robert, " that you saw me 



HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 



69 



borne into Paradise by four devils." He died on his way back 
at Nice, in Bithynia, leaving no legitimate heir. 

25. Before Robert had set out for Palestine, he had nomi- 
nated his natural son William to be his successor, and the 
states of Normandy had confirmed his choice ; but w^hen the 
news of his death reached Europe, several of the ducal 
family endeavoured to have William set aside. The states, 
however, obstinately adhered to their former decision, and 
William triumphed over all his competitors. 26. These wars 
evidently proved the source of the duke's future prosperity, 
as they supplied him with an army inured to combats, and 
inspirited by repeated success, with which he was enabled to 
take advantage of the opportunities presented him by fortune. 
Edward the Confessor, on his return to England, became dis- 
gusted with his Saxon subjects, and gave himself up to Nor- 
man favorites. The family of Godwin, Earl of Kent, were 
particularly odious to him, and to prevent their becoming his 
successors, (which, as he had no heirs, appeared very proba- 
ble,) he bequeathed his crown to William, duke of Normandy. 
On the death of Edward, Harold assumed the crown 
of England, but William passing over at the head of i/^/^« 
a gallant array, defeated the English at the decisive 
battle of Hastings, slew Harold, and subjected the whole 




William the Conqueror receiving the Crown of Eagland. 



70 HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 

country to the Norman sway. From henceforward the his- 
tory of Normandy is so intimately connected with that of 
France and England, that it is no longer necessary to treat of 
it separately. 

27. A little before the conquest of England, some Norman 
adventurers founded a new kingdom in Italy, under circum- 
stances so extraordinary as to demand some notice. 

A. D. 

ini fi Forty Norman gentlemen, returning from a pilgrimage 
to Jerusalem, saved the city of Salerno, which was on 
the point of being seized by the Saracens, and refused to re- 
ceive any of the rewards offered to them by the gratitude of 
the inhabitants. The fame of this exploit spreading through 
Italy, induced several of the Italian princes to take into their 
pay troops of Norman adventurers, who were ever ready to 
sell their services. The duke of Naples, to whom they had 
been of great use in his contest with the prince of Capua, 
bestowed upon them a considerable territory, situated between 
the two cities, where they founded the city of Aversa. This 
establishment attracted new adventurers. Three sons of Tan- 
cred of Hauteville, a gentleman of Normandy, one of whom 
was called Willia7n Fier-a-bras, or Bras-de-Fer (Iron 

in4fi ^'"f") l^i^^ '■^1^ foundation of a new principality for 
' their family. After having wrested La Puglia from the 
Catapan, the title of a magistrate acting under the authority 
of the court of Constantinople, they shared the conquest 
with the other officers. Bras-de-fer was elected count of 
La Puglia by his soldiers ; he was succeeded by his brothers, 
Drogon and Humphrey, who being afterwards joined by their 
younger brother, Robert Guiscard, soon became formidable to 
the Italians. Leo IX. dreading that these adventurers would 
not respect the property of the church more than that of the 
laity, formed an alliance against the strangers, whom he had 
previously excommunicated. The Normans, who scarcely 
exceeded three thousand men, sent him a most respectful 
message, promising to do him homage for their fiefs ; but the 
pope having refused the offer, they cut his army in pieces, 
took himself prisoner; but instead of doing him any injury, 
they prostrated themselves before him, and having received 
absolution, restored him to liberty. 

28. What they offered to Leo IX. was accepted by 

,^',Q Nicholas II. Robert Guiscard having received from 

him the investiture of all the conquests which he had 

gained in La Puglia and Calabria, and all that he might after- 



HISTORY OF NORMANDY. 



71 



wards make in those provinces or in Sicily, took the oath of 
feudal fidelity to the pope. With equal vigour and success 
they attacked the forces of the Greek empire in the south of 
Italy, and the Saracens in Sicily ; victory followed victory in 
rapid succession, until they had obtained actual possession of 
those countries of which the pope had only given them the 
empty titles. Thus powerful vassals were attached to the 
holy see, valuable rights of lordship were acquired, and new 
means of aggrandizement were procured. 




72 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Philip I. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM THE FIRST CRUSADE TO THE ACCESSION OF 
PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 

But when on high the sacred standard rose, 
Through all their veins a brisker current flows, 
New hopes, new strength, inspire the pious throng, 
" 'Tis Heaven's high will," they shout, and rush along. 

Miss Pordeit. 



A. D. 



1. We must now return to the history of France, 
.^q^' Although Urban II. had excommunicated the king, he 
* did not hesitate to take refuge in France when exposed 
to danger by the quarrels between the emperor and the holy 
see. He called a council at Clermont, and in a long speech 
recommended to the assembly's notice the state of Palestine, 
exhorting all to take up arms and rescue its sacred soil from 
the infidels. 2. The preaching of Peter the Hermit, an en- 
thusiastic monk of Picardy, who had lately returned from a 



74 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




THE FIRST CRUSADE. 75 

pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and who gave a most pathetic de- 
scription of the calamities to which the pilgrims were exposed, 
had prepared their minds ; no sooner then did they hear the 
papal recommendation, than all with one acclaim shouted 
Deus id vulu *■' God wills it." 3. At the same council, Ur- 
ban once more excommunicated Philip, forbade princes to 
give investitures* and ordered that bishops and priests should 
not for the future do homage to their sovereigns. He next 
travelled from province to province, commanding the people 
everywhere to join the crusades; deposing those bishops 
who had in any way resisted his power, and lavishing privi- 
leges on the monks, who had been found by experience to be 
the most strenuous supporters of the holy see. 

4. The crusading frenzy which seized on France produced 
the most dreadful- calamities ; a disorderly rabble, headed by 
Peter the Hermit, and a Norman gentleman called Walter the 
Pennyless, first set out; their numbers exceeded 300,000. 
They displayed their furious zeal on the way, by the mas- 
sacre of Jews, laid waste for subsistence the countries through 
which they passed, and excited against themselves the ven- 
geance of the indignant population. On his arrival at Con- 
stantinople, Peter the Hermit was graciously received by tlie 
emperor of the east, Alexis Comnenus, who hastened to for- 
ward the march of the rabble who accompanied him, into 
Asia Minor. Nearly all of them perished miserably of hun- 
ger, fatigue, and suffering, before they reached the Holy Land. 

In the regular army that followed under the command of 
Godfrey of Bouillon, were some of the principal nobles of 
France ; among these the "most conspicuous were, Hugh de 
Vermandois, brother to the king ; Robert of Normandy, sou 
of William the Conqueror ; Robert, earl of Flanders ; Ste- 
phen, count of Blois, father of king Stephen ; and Ray- 
mond, count of Toulouse. After many vicissitudes, the cru- 
saders captured Jerusalem, July 15th, A. D. 1099, and founded 
a Christian kingdom in Palestine. 5. After this exploit, most 
of the French who survived returned home ; but being re- 
proached by their countrymen as deserters of the sacred 
cause, they again set out for Palestine under the command of 
William, duke of Aquitaine. This chieftain, more distin- 

* The right of the king to give, the investiture or possession of 
the see to a bishop was always resisted by the popes ; they thought 
that if they permitted any interference of the state in ecclesiastical 
matters, their own supremacy would be gradually undermined. 



76 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



guished for his literary talents than political wisdom, was 
soon involved in a dispute with the emperor of Constanti- 
nople. 6. The treacherous Greek, in revenge for some insults 
he had received, betrayed the Crusaders to the Saracens ; they 
were led by false guides into defiles that exposed them to be 
attacked at a disadvantage ; in this situation they were assailed 
by an army of the Saracens, who routed them with great 
slaughter, a few only of the nobles saving themselves by flight. 
7. While the bravest of his subjects were thus uselessly 
wasting their strength in Palestine, Philip continued sunk in 
the lowest debauchery ; he obtained absolution from the pope, 
and went barefooted to a council at Paris with Bertrade, to 
swear that they would live no longer together. The pope's 
legate gave them absolution ; but the condition of reiudiating 
Bertrade does not appear to have been insisted on, for the 
king continued to live with her, and had her children de- 
clared capable of inheriting the crown. 

8. Philip died in the fiftieth year of his inglorious 
1 iVlR r^ig"- 'The royal dominions did not at this time ex- 
■ tend over more than one hundred square miles; but 
the monarchy had reached its lowest state of debasement, 
and from henceforward began to increase in power and terri- 
tory during every succeeding century. 

9. The accession of Louis 
VI. was hailed by the French 
with delight; he had been 
associated with his father in 
the sovereignty several years 
before,and had given striking 
proofs both of his valour 
and justice, by subduing and 
punishing the lords of Mont- 
I'heri, Montford, and other 
barons who had become cap- 
tains of banditti, and sallied 
out from the towers which 
they had erected along the 
roads, plundering travellers, 
and devastating the country. 
10. The popularity he had 
. thus obtained, exposed him 

to great danger, for Bertrade, 
jealous of his fame, and anxious to secure the crown for her 
own son Philip, gave him a poisonous draught. Though 




THE FIRST CRUSADE. 77 

Louis was saved by a skilful physician, he ever after felt the 
injurious effects of it, and his complexion even till his death 
continued pale and sallow. 11. The education of the young 
prince had been shamefully neglected, but his own taste led 
him to cultivate the manly exercises of chivalry, and at the 
same time he acquired those high principles of honour and 
integrity, by which knighthood was distinguished in tlie 
earlier ages. His great corpulence, which procured him the 
surname Ze Gros^ or the Fat, did not render him inactive, and 
the situation of France at the time of his accession, was such 
as to require the most vigorous exertions. 

12. The nobles still continued to act the part of oppres- 
sors, and Louis scarcely subdued one ere he was compelled 
to march against another ; however he persevered, and though 
his half-brother Philip joined with some of the factious nobles, 
he finally prevailed in restoring something like social 
order to the distracted country. 13. A few years ii'tq 
after Louis was engaged with a more powerful foe. 
Henry L of England had seized on the duchy of Normandy, 
shut up his brother Robert, the rightful duke, in prison, and 
compelled Robert's son, William, to seek for safety in the 
court of France. Louis undertook to restore William to his 
dominions the more readily, because Henry had lately erected 
the strong castle of Gesors on the frontiers of Normandy, and 
had thus become formidable to the French monarchy. A 
battle was fought at Brenneville, in which the English were 
victorious, but there was not much blood shed, as both 
parties were anxious to take their enemies alive for . ," .' 
the sake of their ransom. This was the first battle 
fought between two nations whose subsequent hostility has 
shed so much blood. 

14. Henry J. of England, was a more clever politician than 
his gallant rival, and he contrived to involve Louis in a quar- 
rel with Henry V. of Germany. Pope Calixtus V. had been 
driven out of Italy by the emperor, and compelled to take 
refuge in France. The pope assembled a council at Rheims, 
and thundered out an excommunication against the emperor, 
who on his part resolved to destroy the town where so gross 
an insult had been offered to him. 15. The king of France 
unfurled the oriflainme* the several vassals of the crown 

* The oriflamme, or sacred banner of France, was reported to 
have descended from heaven, in honour either of Olovis or Charle- 
magne. It was, according to Mailly, a square banner of flame- 
7* 



78 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

flocked to the sacred standard, and he soon found himself at 
the head of 200,000 men. The emperor did not venture to 
come to an engagement, but quickly repassed the Rhine with 
all his forces. Louis wished to take advantage of these cir- 
cumstances and invade Normandy, but his nobles refused to 
join in the expedition, dreading that the precedent of punish- 
ing a disobedient vassal might at some future period be turned 
against themselves. 

1 6. The death of his eldest son in the prime of 
, ,'„.■ life, by a fall from his horse, was the source of bitter 
affliction to Louis ; he never afterwards took the same 
interest in public affairs ; and when he had procured the co- 
ronation of his second son Louis, he seemed to devote 

AD- • 

. ,'o,~' himself entirely to the affairs of another world. 17. 
On his death-bed he addressed his son in words that 
cannot too often be repeated to a sovereign : " Remember, 
ray son, that a kingdom is a public trust, for the exercise of 
which you must render a strict account after your death." 
18. This reign is distinguished by several useful establish- 
ments, especially by that of communes^ which were some- 
thing like our corporations. To check the extravagant 
power of the nobility, whose excesses the royal power was 
unable to restrain, the king sold permission to several of the 
cities and towns to form associations for mutual protection, 

coloured taffeta, without figures or embroidery, but with three deep 
indentures at the bottom ; and suspended from a gilded lance. 
Hence was derived its compound name ; or, alluding to the gilded 
staff, and flamme. signifying both the colour of the silk and the shape 
of the banner. It was always raised when the king intended to 
summon the aid of all his vassals. When displayed in the battle- 
field, it was a signal that no quarter would be given. The folly of 
the age attributed many fabled virtues to this banner, and it was 
believed that its presence would ensure victory. The falsehood of 
this, however, was fatally proved at Crecy. Nothing can more de- 
cidedly mark the respect in which the oriflamme was held, than 
the oath administered to its bearer: — 

"You swear and promise, on the precious body of Christ Jesusj 
here present, and on the bodies of Monseigneur St. Denis and his 
companions, here also, that you will loyally, in your own person, 
guard and govern the oriflamme of our lord the king, also present, 
to the honour and profit of himself and his kingdom, and that you 
will not abandon it for the fear of death or any other cause, but 
that you will in all things do your duty, as becomes a good and loyal 
knight, towards your sovereign and liege lord." 



THE FIRST CRUSADE. 



79 



and to choose their own magistrates. This example was im- 
itated by several of the nobility, anxious to raise money to 
furnish themselves for the crusades ; and thus a system of 
municipal government was gradually established in France, 
which greatly tended to promote commerce and civilization. 

19. After the example of Charlemagne, Louis sent justices 
itinerant through the country, who formed a court of appeal 
against unjust sentences in the baronial courts. This institu- 
tion was equally beneficial to the king and the people ; it 
diminished the authority which the nobles derived from their 
territorial jurisdiction, and corrected many evils which had 
arisen from local oppression. These wise establishments 
were the work of four brothers named Garland, and of the 
abbe Segur, who were the principal ministers of Louis le 
Gros. 

20. During this reign the monasteries were greatly multi- 
plied ; and the authority of the monks everywhere increased. 
The most conspicuous of the ecclesiastics who interfered in 
public affairs, was St. Bernard, abbe of Clairvaux, a man 
greatly celebrated for his piety and eloquence ; by the force 
of his talents he acquired a great personal influence over the 
pontiffs, kings, and nations, but not possessing real political 
wisdom, he did not exercise his power to any beneficial pur- 
pose. 21. Arnold de Brescia, another monk, preached against 
the influence exercised by ecclesiastics in state affairs, and 
maintained that the clergy violated 
their duty by interfering in politics. 
These doctrines roused the in- 
dignation of the ambitious clergy, 
and the tenets of Arnold were 
everywhere proscribed •, still the 
number of his followers increased, 
until the pope, dreading the pro- 
gress of such opinions, had him 
condemned and burned as a heretic. 

22, Louis VIJ., surnamed the 
youngs had been associated in the 
kingdom with his father, some 
years before the death of that 
monarch. His ardent temper soon 
after his accession involved him in 
a quarrel with the church. The 
chapter of Bruges elected an arch- Loujg vii. 




80 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



bishop displeasing to the king, Louis annulled the election, 
and commanded them to proceed to a new one. Pope Inno- 
cent II., although he owed the tiara in a great measure to the 
influence of the French monarch, warmly espoused the cause 
of the chapter, consecrated the new archbishop himself, and 
when Louis refused to admit him, placed the kingdom under 
an interdict. 




Thibaut, Count of Champagne. 

23. Thibaut, count of Champagne, devoted to the cause of 

the monks more through ambition than zeal for religion, took 

up arms against his sovereign ; while St. Bernard filled the 

country with faction, by incessantly declaiming against the 

king's impious interference with religion. 24. Louis 

1 {a^ assembled his forces, and invading Champagne, took 

■ the town of Vitri by storm : a merciless slaughter was 

made of the inhabitants; thirteen hundred had fled into a 

church, hoping that the sanctity of the place would prove 

tlieir protection ; but by command of the king, the edifice 

was set on fire, and they all perished miserably in the flames. 

25. Remorse for this crime ever after preyed on the mind of 

Louis, and to make atonement, he resolved, at the instigation 



THE SECON'D CRUSADE. 81 

of St. Bernard, to join in the second crusade. 26. On this 
occasion, all the enthusiasm of the former expedition was re- 
newed. At an assembly held at Vezelai, the king and Ber- 
nard, mounted on a scaffold, addressed the multitude, and 
impressed on tliem the duty of waging war against the idola- 
ters^ as they ignorantly called the Mohammedans. So great 
was the enthusiasm produced in the assembly, that the crosses 
which had been prepared were not sufficieijt, and Bernard 
tore his robe in shreds to supply the crowd of volunteers. 
The command of the expedition was offered to the saint, but 
he had the good sense to refuse ; he trusted to his talents as 
a preacher rather than as a warrior, and having succeeded in 
France, he proceeded to Germany, where he kindled a similar 
flame. 27. Two monarchs, Conrad III., emperor of 
Germany, and Louis of France, were the leaders of the , ^.1 
second crusade. Few expeditions have been more 
calamitous. The treachery of the Greeks, who dreaded the 
crusaders even more than the Saracens, the ignorance of the 
leaders, the disunion of their followers, and the total absence 
of discipline, combined to ruin the two armies. After a series 
of calamitous defeats, the monarchs were obliged to visit Je- 
rusalem as pilgrims instead of conquerors ; and returned to 
Europe without honour, and almost without followers. 28. 
Eleonora, the queen of Louis, had accompanied him on this 
expedition ; she was the heiress of Poitou and Aquitaine, and 
by her marriage these rich provinces had been united to 
France ; but while Louis was advancing through Palestine, 
Eleonora remained at Antioch, indulging in the most criminal 
excesses, and Louis resolved at all hazards to obtain a divorce. 
During the absence of the king the administration of affairs 
had been trusted to the abbe Segur, under whose judicious 
management the nation enjoyed peace and tranquillity. He 
had opposed the project of the crusade, but was borne down 
by the superior influence of Bernard, and he made an equally 
ineffectual resistance to the meditated divorce. 29. Louis 
repudiated Eleonora on the old pretext of consanguinity ; six 
weeks after she married Henry 11. of England, and thus united 
the provinces of Aquitaine and Poitou to the English crown. 
This created mutual jealousy between the rival monarchs, and 
produced a desultory warfare, which, with little interruption, 
lasted nearly twenty years. 30. During one of the brief in- 
tervals of peace, the two monarchs went to visit pope Alex- 
ander in., whom the disturbances of Italy had compelled to 

F 



82 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

take refuge in France, and showed their submission to the 
pontiff by taking each a rein of his horse's bridle, and con- 
ducting him in this state to the lodgings that had been pre- 
pared for his reception. 

31. Through hatred of Henry, Louis strenuously supported 
the celebrated Thomas-a-Becket, in his resistance to his sove- 
reign, and aided Henry's unnatural sons in their frequent 
rebellions agaii^t their indulgent father. Queen Eleanor was? 
the principal cause of these troubles in the family of Henry; 
as she had brought him so rich a dowry, she expected that 
the monarch would have evinced his gratitude by devoted 
affection; and when she found herself neglected, she urged 
her sons to raise the flames of civil war in those provinces 
that had been committed to their government. Young Henry 
in Normandy, Geoffry in Brittany, and Richard in Aquitaine, 
threw off allegiance to their king and father nearly at the same 
lime. The war was principally remarkable for the mutual 
treachery of the rebels and their adherents ; the brothers 
seemed to hate each other as much as they did their father, 
and one of them, Geoffry, declared that " mutual hatred was 
the family inheritance of the Plantagenets." 32. Louis dur- 
ing the war exhibited several gross instances of vile treachery, 
especially at the siege of Rouen, where, having granted the 
inhabitants a truce, he attempted to storm the town while 
they were off their guard ; but a priest on the walls having 
observed the bustle in the enemy's camp, rung the alarm-bell, 
the garrison at once hurried to the walls, and Louis was re- 
pulsed with disgrace. 

33. After the conclusion of a truce with the English, Louis 
resolved to crown his eldest son Philip ; but on the day ap- 
pointed for the ceremony, the young prince lost his way while 
hunting in the forest; and when discovered, had suffered so 
much from cold and fatigue that he fell into a dangerous sick 
ness that threatened his life. The fond father undertook a 
pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas-a-Becket, on whose pa- 
tronage he conceived that he had had a strong claim. The 
journey was fatal to the old king; the rapidity with which he 
travelled, and the anxiety of his mind, brought on an attack 
of the palsy, from which he never recovered. The corona- 
tion of Philip was celebrated with extraordinary splendour, 
but illness prevented his father from witnessing the ceremony ; 
he lingered, however, some months longer, and when he fell 



LOUIS vii. 83 

the near approach of death, he ordered all his private property 
to be distributed among the poor. 

34. In this reign the poetry of the Troubadours had at- 
tained the summit of its popularity. These poets were for 
the most part natives of Provence, and their songs were writ- 
ten in the dialect of that country. Love and gallantry were 
the principal subjects of their poetic effusions ; but though 
many of them display considerable refinement, a great num- 
ber are sullied by grossness and indelicacy. 35. About this 
time also we find the first traces of the French drama, in the 
theatrical representations introduced by the monks. The 
subjects were principally some of the historic events recorded 
in Scripture, or the legend of some favourite saint. They 
were called mysteries, and long continued to form an import- 
ant part of every religious festival. 

36. Coats of arms and surnames became hereditary about 
the time of the second crusade ; they were introduced to 
designate the rank and lineage of the several leaders engaged 
in the wars for the recovery of Palestine. Louis the Young 
was the first king who assumed the fleur-de-lis, as the royal 
cognizance ; it is disputed by antiquarians whether this en- 
sign be really the flower of the lily, or rather the head of the 
ancient French javelin. The majority of heraldic writers seem 
inclined to adopt the latter opinion. 

We give here two anecdotes to illustrate the manners of 
the court and the monastery at this period of French history. 
At a royal marriage at the court of Navarre, the princes and 
princesses were entertained by a spectacle which would 
now be thought too disgusting to please even a m6b at a 
fair. This was a combat between two blind men and a pig. 
The men were armed with clubs, and the pig was to be the 
prize of whichever could knock it on the head. The pig, 
having the use of its eyes, could generally avoid the blows 
which were aimed at it, and the blind men, instead of striking 
the pig, generally hit one another ; and in this it seems, the 
chief diversion of the sport consisted, to the by-standers at 
least. When Pope Alexander was in France, he went to 
pay his devotions in the church of St. Genevieve, at Paris. 
A splendid carpet was prepared for him to kneel on. When 
the pope had finished his devotions and left the church, his 
attendants and the monks of St. Genevieve quarrelled for 
the possession of this carpet : they fell to blows, and the 
uproar became so great that the king came in person to quell 



84 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



it. But his presence was no restraint on the combatants, 
who continued their battle with such indiscriminate rage, 
that even the king himself got his share of the blows, and 
was obliged to retreat. 




PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 



85 




Ptiilip II., surnamed Augustus. 



A. D. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE REIGN OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 

Still if you glory in the lion's force, 
Come, nobly emulate that lion's course! 
From guarded herds he vindicates his prey, 
Nor lurks in fraudful thickets from the day. 

LOVIBOND 

1. The reign of Philip Augustus forms an import- 
ant era in the history of France ; previous to his ac- i'*,'c.^° 
cession, the monarchs had only a nominal supremacy 
over a confederation of princes, who w^ere in reality inde- 
pendent sovereigns ; but in the course of this reign, the power 
of these vassals was broken, and the absolute authority of 
the king established. As he was only fifteen at the time of 
his father's death, the regency was entrusted to the count of 
Flanders, but Philip, impatient of control, soon took the reins 
of government into his own hands. 2. The first act of the 
new monarch was one of questionable policy and absolute 
injustice ; he confiscated the property of all the Jews in 
France, and banished them from his dominions, under the 



80 ' HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

pretence that they had been guilty of usury and extortion ; 
but subsequently finding the want of rich capitalists, he per- 
mitted them to return. 3. The vigour of the young monarch 
was soon experienced by the clergy and nobility. When the 
clergy at Rheims were asked for a subsidy, they requested the 
king to be contented with their supplications for his success; 
soon after, they applied to Philip for protection against some 
nobles that ravaged their territories, and Philip replied that 
he would supplicate these nobles to abstain from injuring the 
church. The entreaties of Philip were encouragement to the 
assailants ; a fresh complaint was made by the clergy, and 
Philip, in reply, said, " Of what do you complain, my friends ? 
have not I protected you with my prayers, as you assisted 
me with yours ?" The clergy then promised that they would, 
for the future, exhibit more substantial proofs of loyalty, and 
Philip, in his turn, afforded them more efficient protection. 
The count of Flanders, who had usurped some of the royal 
domains, was forced by the vigorous measures of Philip to 
restore them ; and Henry II., who had often cajoled Louis 
VII., found the new sovereign a formidable rival in policy. 

4. The causes of disunion between the French and English 
sovereigns were numerous and complicated ; the more so, 
because they were mixed up with the quarrels between Henry 
and his sons. The possessions of Aquitaine and Brittany, 
which Henry had obtained by his wife Eleonora, made his 
share of France nearly equal to the dominions of Philip, and 
the union of so many provinces under a single sovereign, 
made him too formidable a vassal. The daughter of Louis 
had been betrothed to Richard, count of Poitiers, the son of 
Henry; and the young princess was sent to the court of the 
British king until she attained a marriageable age. The mar- 
riage was delayed in consequence of the wars between Henry 
and his children ; but slander assigned other reasons, and it 
was asserted that a criminal intercourse had taken place be- 
tween Henry and his intended daughter-in-law. Several con- 
ferences on these topics took place between Philip and Henry, 
under an elm near Gisors, which grew exactly at the confines 
of France and Normandy ; but the superior wisdom of Henry 
so frequently baffled the French monarch, that he ordered the 
elm to be cut down, declaring that no future conferences 
should be held under its shade. 

5. At length the interference of the pope restored peace for 
a time : when the news of the capture of Jerusalem, by 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 87 

Saladiii, reached Europe, the Roman pontiff sent legates into 
every part of Christendom, entreating princes to lay aside 
their mutual jealousies, and unite for the recovery of the holy 
sepulchre. Amongst others, appeared William, archbishop 
of Tyre, driven from his see by the victories of the Saracens 
— one of the most celebrated men of the age for learning and 
eloquence. By his persuasion, the tvi^o kings agreed to ad- 
journ their differences, and to unite in a new expedition 
against Palestine. 6. But this apparent reconciliation lasted 
only for a short time ; count Richard engaged in war with 
the count of Toulouse; the French king, to avenge the cause 
of his vassals, attacked the English territories, and Henry, 
much against his will, found himself involved in a new war. 
Richard, who had been the original cause of the war, made 
a private offer to the king of France of doing him homage, 
and swearing fealty, provided that he were put in possession 
of all his father's continental dominions, and Philip readily 
agreed to the conditions. 7. Against such a coalition, Henry 
found himself unable to maintain a contest, and solicited the 
intervention of the pope. A legate was sent, who threatened 
to place the kingdom of France under an interdict, but Philip 
was not to be daunted by this threat. 8. He replied, " Sir 
legate, pass the sentence if it please thee, for I fear it not. 
The Roman church has no right to harm the kingdom of 
France, either by interdict or otherwise, when the king thinks 
proper to arm against his rebellious vassals, to revenge his 
own injuries and the honour of his crown. Besides, I see 
by thy discourse, that thou hast smelled the king of Eng- 
land's eslerlins?'' 

9. To annoy Henry the more, Philip and Richard made a 
great parade of their friendship ; they lived in the same tent, 
ate at the same table, and slept in the same bed ; and yet we 
shall see their friendship after a few years terminating in the 
most rancorous hatred. At length Henry, worn out 

by successive calamities, died at Chinon, having pro- , /qq 
nounced a malediction on his children, which he could 
never be prevailed on to retract. Richard visited his father 
on his (leaih-bed, and afterwards returned to the French 
camp, where he jested about the impotent hostility the old 
king had shown during the interview. 

10. Richard, now become king of England, prepared to 
join with Philip in the third crusade ; the two monarchs pub- 
licly renewed their former league of amity, and swore that 



OO HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

each should protect the dominions of the other as if they 
were his own. But this friendship was not of long duration ; 
during their delay in the harbour of Messina, which was the 
rendezvous of their fleets, frequent subjects of dispute arose. 
Richard was haughty and tyrannical, both in manner and'dis- 
position ; Philip was proud, jealous, and deceitful ; violence 
on the one side was opposed by artifice on the other, and the 
other crusaders had reason to dread that the expedition would 
be frustrated by a war between the ambitious rivals. 11. 
These dissensions were with difficulty quelled in Messina, 
but they broke out with fresh violence in Palestine, until at 
length, Philip, unable to brook the pre-eminence that Richard 
had obtained by his superior valour, feigned indisposition, and 
returned to Europe. In his way back, he applied to the pope 
to be absolved from his oath of fidelity and friendship, but the 
pontiif rejected his request with becoming indignation. 12. 
Notwithstanding Philip stimulated John to rebel against his 
absent brother, and attempt to seize on his dominions, the 
labours of both were frustrated by the Norman nobles, who 
admired the valour of their sovereign, and felt a personal 
interest in the honour that the prowess of Richard, whom 
they surnamed the Lion-hearted, had added to the Norman 
name. 

13. The news of these events recalled Richard from Pales- 

tine ; but on his return, while passing through Ger- 
, I'qo niany in the disguise of a pilgrim, he was discovered 
■ and imprisoned by the duke of Austria, whom he had 
grievously insulted in the Holy Land. After a long and 
tedious captivity, the English monarch was liberated, and re- 
turned to England eager to avenge the wrongs inflicted on 
him by his rebellious brother and treacherous rival. When 
Philip heard of Richard's liberation, he sent John a billet 
announcing the news in these emphatic words, "■ Take care 
of yourself; the devil is unchained." 

14. From Richard's return until his death, an aljnost inces- 
sant war was continued between him and Philip; but their 
hostility was confined to petty skirmishes on the borders, and 
to aiding rebellious vassals who took up arms against the 
rival sovereigns. The king of France, dreading the military 
skill of Richard, only once ventured to encounter him in the 
field, and was then defeated with the loss of his baggage, 
among which were the archives of the kingdom. 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 89 

15. The death of Richard liberated Philip from a 



A.D. 



powerful rival ; and a conjuncture of favourable cir- , .' ' 
cumstances in the inglorious reign of his successor, 
enabled him to seize on the hereditary dominions which the 
English kings had for so many years possessed on the Con- 
tinent. We have previously seen that the people of Brittany 
were strenuous assertors of their own independence, and very 
averse to foreign domination. In order to secure their affec- 
tions, Henry II. having appointed his second son count of 
Brittany, united him in marriage with Constance, a descendant 
of the native princes of that country. As soon as Constance 
had borne a son, the Bretons insisted on his being baptized 
by the name of Arthur, because there had been for a long 
period, prophecies circulated among all the Celtic tribes, fore- 
telling that a prince of that name should restore the ancient 
glories of the Breton race. 16. John was recognised as king, 
in England, Normandy, and Aquitaine; but the duchy of 
Brittany, the counties of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, with 
several others, acknowledged Arthur as their sovereign, and 
claimed the protection of the king of France. Philip having 
thus obtained an entrance, dismantled the towns and razed 
the fortresses of his new vassals ; but despairing of being 
able to retain these provinces against the will of the in- 
habitants, and in despite of the king of England, he made 
peace with John, and sacrificed to him Arthur and his fol- 
lowers. 17. But while Philip was thus despoiling young 
Arthur of his inheritance, he had him educated at court with 
his own sons, and kept him as an useful agent in the possible 
case of a new rupture with John. This rupture soon took 
place, in consequence of an insurrection of the Poi- 
tevins under the command of the count de la Marche, lorjo 
from whom the king of England had taken his be- 
trothed wife. Philip on this broke the peace, proclaimed 
Arthur count of the Bretons, Anjouans, and Poitevins, mar- 
ried him to the princess Mary, then only five years old, and 
sent him at the head of an army to conquer those towns of 
Poitou, which still held out for the king of England. 

18. The issue of the war was calamitous to Arthur; he 
laid siege to Mirebeau, a small town near Poitiers, in which 
the dowager queen of England then resided. The town was 
taken, but Eleanor retired into the citadel, and sent pressing 
messengers to John to advance to her relief Eager to libe- 
rate his mother, the English king hurried across the country 
8* 



90 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

■ i« illilliillllliil^t^ 



Death of Prince Arthur. 

bv forced marches, attacked the besiegers, who were totally 
unprepared, and made Arthur, together with the principal 
leaders of the insurrection, prisoners. He carried them all 
into Normandy, where Arthur soon disappeared, murdered by 
his uncle, as the Bretons affirmed ; or accidentally killed in 
attempting to make his escape, as the Normans relate the 
story. 

19. The death of Arthur stung the Bretons to madness ; in 
him they had placed the last hope of regaining their national 
independence, and the same ardent imagination which had led 
them to believe their future destiny connected with that of 
this child, inspired them with a sort of mad affection for 
Philip, because he was the enemy of young Arthur's murderer. 
They accused John before the French king, as his feudal 
siizerain^ of young Arthur's murder; and he in consequence 
summoned John as his vassal for Normandy, to appear and 
defend himself before the twelve peers of France. As no 
notice was taken of this summons, the lands which John held 
under the French crown were declared foffeit, and an army 
was levied to put the sentence into execution. 

20. The conqupst of Normandy was effected almost with- 
out an eflx)rt on the part of Philip. The Bretons, forgetful 
that they were forging chains for themselves, and listening 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 91 

only to the dictates of a blind revenge, poured their 
forces into the country, and committed such ravages .oni 
that the other parts of the province gladly submitted 
to the king of France, from whom alone they could expect 
protection. The English monarch made no attempt to rescue 
his dominions, but passed his time in hunting and other diver- 
sions, 21. When the people of Rouen, after having made a 
fierce resistance, and endured every extremity, sent- a deputa- 
tion to inform him that they must surrender unless relieved, 
the envoys found their king playing at chess ; he did not rise 
i'rom the board, nor give them an answer, until the game was 
finished. He then said to them drily — " I have no means of 
succouring you within the time appointed, so do the best you 
can." The town of course surrendered; those which still 
held out followed its example ; and the conquest of all the 
English dominions but Guienne was completed. 22. In less 
than a century after this conquest, the Normans had become 
so identified with the French, that in every war against Eng- 
land, their privateers did more injury to the British trade than 
any other portion of the French navy. 

23. The reign of Philip Augustus is remarkable by being 
intimately connected with the pontificate of Innocent 111. 
This pope, who seemed to have inherited the haughtiness and 
ambition of Gregory VII., treated crowned heads as if they 
were merely his vassals. He commenced by excommunicat- 
ing Philip, and placing his kingdom under an interdict, on 
account of his having divorced his wife Ingeberge, and the 
king was forced to make a show of submission. 24. The 
vengeance of the pope was next directed against John, for 
refusing to allow Stephen Langton to take possession of the 
see of Canterbury ; not content with placing the kingdom 
under an interdict, he declared the throne vacant, and offered 
to bestow it on Philip. The French monarch, listening only 
to the dictates of ambition, and forgetting that this precedent 
might hereafter be directed against himself, prepared a fleet 
and levied an army to go and take possession.' John was too 
great a coward to encounter the storm ; he surrendered his 
crown to Pandolf, the papal legate, and consented to hold 
England for the future as a vassal of the holy see. In conse- 
quence he was formally reconciled to the church, and the 
French were forbidden to attempt any thing against one who 
was under the peculiar protection of the holy see. 



92 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



25. Indignant at being 
thus deceived, Philip con- 
tinued his preparations : 
and though attacked by a 
crowd of enemies, extri- 
cated himself by his valour 
and prudence. The empe- 
ror Otho and the count of 
Flanders, united with the 
English, invaded France, 
and Philip, with far inferior 
forces, met ihem on the 
plains of Bouvines, near 
Tournay. The French ob- 
tained a complete victory ; 
Otho having encountered a 
French knight, was dis- 
mounted and rescued with 
difficulty ; alarmed at the 
danger, he seized another 
horse and fled ; while Philip 
Avith an exalting smile said 
to his nobles, " My friends, 
we shall see nothing to-day 
but his back." The flight of the emperor was the signal for 
the ruin of his army ; the Imperialists no longer resisted, and 
a terrible slaughter ensued. After having obtained so glorious 
a victory, Philip returned to Paris, and entered his capital in 
triumph. His two most bitter enemies, the count of Flanders 
and the count of Boulogne, were led in triumph and confined 
in the Louvre, then a castle in the vicinity of Paris, which 
served both for a palace and a prison. 

26. John, after this defeat of his allies, was on the brink 
of ruin ; he had been compelled by his barons to sign Magna 
Charta, and swear to its observance, but the oath was violated 
almost as soon as it had been taken. On this the 
barons declared him deposed, and elected as their 1^^*,^* 
sovereign Louis, the eldest son of Philip, whose wife, 
Blanche of Castile, was the grand-daughter of Henry II.; 
and this prince was actually proclaimed in London. When 
Innocent heard of these transactions, he redoubled his ex- 
communications, but they were disregarded ; indignation 
threw him into a fever, and he died while meditating new 




King John of England. 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 



93 




PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 95 

acts of violence. 27. The greater part of England had 
already submitted to Louis, when the death of John saved 
that country from a foreign yoke ; the English everywhere 
submitted to Henry !][., the son of John, and Louis had the 
good sense to resign a crown which he could scarcely have 
retained. 

28. We have already seen how the death of prince Arthur 
enabled Philip to establish the royal authority in the northern 
provinces of France ; circumstances, equally extraordinary, 
destroyed all the national power of the inhabitants of the 
country between the Mediterranean, the Rhone, and the Ga- 
ronne. These men, for the most part vassals of the count 
of Toulouse, were, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, far 
superior to the rest of Gaul in wealth and civilization. They 
carried on an extensive and lucrative commerce with the East, 
where the signature of their count had then greater weight 
than the king of France's great seal. Their towns had a 
municipal constitution like the Italian republics, their mer- 
chants enjoyed many of the privileges of nobility, their litera- 
ture was the most refined in Europe, and their literary dialect, 
the Froven9al, was classical in Italy and Spain. But with all 
these advantages, they had one greater source of pre-eminence, 
which yet was the cause of their ruin. They had anticipated, 
and in some degree exceeded, the religious reforms of the six- 
teenth century ; they had virtually renounced the authority 
of the Romish see, which vainly exhausted the resources of 
its immense diplomatic organization to bring them into obe- 
dience. The emissaries of the pontiff brought to Alby, Nar- 
bonne, and Toulouse, bulls of excommunication against the 
enemies of the Romish faith ; but the clergy, and even the 
bishops, had shared in the alleged heresy, and the weapons 
of the church were disregarded. To stop this spreading con- 
tagion, it was necessary to destroy the freedom and 
social order from which it arose, and Innocent III. ^nno 
undertook the task. He preached a crusade against 

the inhabitants of the county of Toulouse and diocese of 
Alby, as his predecessors had done against the Saracens ; and 
published throughout Europe, that whoever would take up 
arras and war against them to the uttermost, should obtain 
remission of all his sins, and a part of the property of the 
heretics. 

29. Unfortunately the period was favourable for this cru 
sade of Christians against Christians. The conquest of Nor 



96 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

mandy had dispossessed many of its gallant knights, and 
made them soldiers of fortune ; companies of warlike adven- 
turers roamed through Europe, offering their services to any 
sovereign that v^ould take them into pay, and there vi'ere few 
kings who dared to refuse sending soldiers to the aid of a 
pontiff, who was so ready to fulminate interdicts and excom- 
munications. Besides, the pilgrimage against the Albigenses 
(for so was this war called) promised greater profit, with less 
risk, than the crusade against the Saracens. A numerous army 
was levied, entitled Vost de notre Seigneur, (the host of our 
Lord,) and its general, Simon, count de Montford, did homage 
to the king of France for territories over which his sovereignty 
was not as yet extended. 

30. Raymond VI., count of Toulouse, interested himself in 
favour of his unhappy subjects, the Albigenses, whom the 
pope wished to exterminate ; for this he was excommunicated 
as a favourer of heresy, and all his dominions confiscated. 
No submission, no degradation, not even submitting to be 
beaten with rods as a public penance, and taking up arms 
against his faithful subjects, could procure Raymond's pardon. 
He was obliged to seek refuge in the court of his brother-in- 
law, the king of Arragon, and leave his unfortunate subjects 
to their fate. 31. The war was carried on with more fero- 
cious cruelty than any ever recorded in history ; the fanatical 
fury of the soldiers was stimulated by the exhortations of the 
clergy ; at the storming of Beziers, when it was pro- 
loVo posed to spare the Catholics, a monk exclaimed, " Kill 
■ all, God will recognize his own ;■*' and the atrocious 
precept was but too well obeyed. The war terminated by 
the complete devastation of the country, and the almost com- 
plete extermination of its inhabitants. Philip obtained the 
sovereignty over these valuable provinces, and the inquisition 
was established at Toulouse, to prevent the profession of any 
doctrines condemned by the pope. 

A singular crusade took place during the reign of Philip 
Augustus. His sister, Margaret of France, was married to 
Bela, king of Hungary. At his decease she took an oath to 
live only for Christ, and to close her life in the Holy Land. 
Accordingly she herself headed a crusade of her subjects, and 
led them to the holy war. 

32. In the close of Philip's reign, the fifth crusade took 
place. This expedition sailed against Egypt. At first they 
were successful, and captured Damietta, but fortune soon 



A. 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 



97 




G 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 99 

changed ; when they advanced into the country, the adven- 
turers were suddenly hemmed in by an inundation of the 
Nile, and were glad to purchase a safe retreat by the surrender 
of all their conquests. 

33. Philip died in the 44th year of his reign, after 
having laid the permanent foundation of the royal au- ^nno 
ihority in France. His claim to the title of Augustus, 
uniformly given to him by the French historians, appears 
very questionable 5 his treachery to king Richard and prince 
Arthur, his persecution of the Jews, and his crusade against 
the Albigenses, are foul blots on his character, not to be com- 
pensated by his having paved the streets of Paris, erected an 
aqueduct, or having reduced all ihe provinces of Gaul mto 
the kingdom of France. He was the first European sovereign 
who maintained a standing army ; under pretence that he was 
in danger of being assassinated by his rival Richard, he insti- 
tuted a corps of body-guards, whom he called ribands, and 
on whom he conferred many privileges. During his reign, 
the university of Paris acquired great eminence, but no useful 
branches of learning were cultivated ; science still was con- 
fined to the Arabians, and religion was disgraced by a number 
of offensive ceremonies, all of them absurd, and many inde- 
cent. Philip Augustus is, however, a great favourite with 
the French, because he raised the dignity of the crown, 
and did more than any other king had done before for the 
embellishment and improvement of Paris. His first great 
improvement was to pave the streets, and the circumstance 
which led to his making this improvement is thus quaintly 
told by an old historian. " The king, one day walking 
about in his royal palace, went to the window to divert his 
thoughts b}^ watching the course of the river. Wagons 
drawn by horses were traversing the city, and by throwing 
up the mud, made such an intolerable stench that the king 
could not endure it. He at that moment conceived a diffi- 
cult but necessary project — a project which none of his pre- 
decessors had dared to execute, because of its extreme diffi- 
culty and expense ; and this was the paving of the streets," 
The two principal streets (and perhaps others) were, in con- 
sequence, paved with large flat stones. The accumulation 
of soil has since been so great, that the original pavement, 
which is still to be found, is seven or eight feet below the 
present surface. The next great work which this king 
undertook was to inclose the buildings, closes, gardens, and 



100 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



Other cultivated lands that bordered the two banks of the 
Seine, with a strong wall flanked with round towers. This 
was a great undertaking, and was between twenty and thirty 
years in completing ; but when finished, Paris, though still 
small, compared with the present city, was nearly four times 
its original size. The palace of the Louvre, which now 
stands in the heart of Paris, was built by Philip as a country 
residence on the outside of the new wall. It was a heavy, 
gloomy building, and according to the fashion of the times, 
it was intended both for a palace and a prison. 

Philip built, on the site of the old cathedral of Notre Dame, 
a new church, in that style of architecture which had been 
brought from the East by the crusaders. He a!sii inclosed 
the park at Vincennes, on the outskirts of Paris ; and our 
King Henry H. supplied him with deer to stock it. Amongst 
other things, Philip built a bazaar for the convenience of the 
merchants, who were thus enabled, as the old historians tell 
us, to expose their goods for sale without the hazard of their 
being stolen by " les gentilhommes." But the most im- 
portant benefit which Philip conferred on Paris was an aque- 
duct which he caused to be constructed for the purpose of 
supplying the city with water. 





Figures taken from monuments of the twelfth century. 



LOUIS IX. 



101 




Louis VIII. 

CHAPTER XI. 

LOUIS VIIL LOUIS IX. 

On their broad shields they bore liim from the plain, 
To sense a corpse, and nuniber'd with the slain. 
His fixed eyes in hovering shades were drown'd, 
His gallant limbs in death-like fetters bound. 
The shouts tumultuous, and the din of war. 
His ear received like murmurs heard afar; 
Or as some peasant hears, securely laid 
Beneath a vaulted cliff or woodland shade, 
When o'er his head unnumberYl insects sing 
In airy rounds; the children of the spring. 

Efigoniad. 

1. Louis VIIL, descended from Charlemagne by the 
mother's side, was the first of the Capetian line who 1903 
had not been crowned during the lifetime of his father. 
Previous to his accession, he had been engaged in endeavour- 
ing to drive the English from Guienne, and had so far suc- 
9* 



102 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



ceeded, that only a few towns on the sea-coast remained in 
their possession. These must soon have yielded, had not 
Louis been summoned away by the pope to complete the sub- 
jugation of the Albigenses. He captured Avignon, situated 
in the independent territory of Provence, and even penetrated 
as far as Toulouse. On his return he died, poisoned, it is 
said, by Thibaut, count of Champagne, who was in 
I99fi ^°^^ with the queen. 2. Louis IX., afterwards called 
St. Louis, was but twelve years old at the time of his 
father's death, but the regency was ably managed by his mo- 
ther, Blanche of Castile. The 
proud nobles were averse to the 
government of a foreigner, and 
a woman;* but the queen, by a 
mixture of prudence and firm- 
ness, disconcerted all their ef- 
forts, and retained the reins of 
government until the young king 
had reached his twenty-first year. 
The persecution of the Albigen- 
ses still continued ; this unfortu- 
nate people having made some 
resistance to the crusaders, were 
assailed by fresh armies, and 
forced into submission. 

3. When the young king 
came of age he showed liis 
gratitude to his mother by con- 
tinuing to her a share in the ad- 
ministration ; he then applied himself diligently to the refor- 

* A strange anecdote is recorded of the oppression of the clergy, 
and bold spirit of the queen regent. In the year 1223, the chapter 
of Notre Dame levied a heavy tax on the villages over which they 
had jurisdiction. The inhabitants of Chatenay were either unable 
or unwilling to pay the required sum; they were all arrested and 
crowded into a small prison by their reverend taskmasters. Queen 
Blar.che having learned that these unfortunate beings were deprived 
of air and food, solicited the chapter to set them at liberty. But the 
canons, so far from complying, were so enraged at the queen's in- 
terference, that they apprehended the wives and children of the 
prisoners, and thrust them into the same wretched place of confine- 
ment. Exhausted by hunger, thirst, and want of air, many of these 
unfortunate beings died miserably; when t]ie queen, exasperated 
at the conduct of the canons, went to the prison, accompanied by 




Blanche of Castile. 



104 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




LOUIS IX. 



105 



mation ol" the state, and especially the abuses intro- 
duced by the licentiousness of the clergy, and he so ,t^'.^' 
far succeeded as to correct some of the most glaring "^ "*' 
evils. 4. His tranquillity was first disturbed by the revolt of 
the count of Marche, who, being aided by Henry III., took 
up arras against Louis. The revolters and their allies were 
twice defeated, and the war terminated by the annexation of 
a considerable portion of the count's territory to the crown 
of France. 5. Soon after this Louis fell sick, and while his 
recovery was doubtful, made a vow that he would, on his 
restoration to health, attempt the liberation of Palestine. His 
mother and his wisest counsellors in vain endeavoured to 
change his resolution ; as soon as he became well, he assumed 
the cross, and the nobility, who were ardently attached to 
him, followed his example. 

6. Three years were spent in preparations for this expedi- 
tion •, and the precautions taken by the king showed, that 
though seduced by the prejudices of the time to adopt this 
absurd scheme, yet he could display such prudence and wis- 
dom in the execution, as almost to atone for its defects. Th-? 
Sieur de Joinville, who accompanied the king, has left 

us an interesting record of this calamitous expedition, i^^q 
from which the following sketch is extracted. 

7. After a long delay at Cyprus, 
Louis directed his course to Egypt, 
where he found an army of Saracens 
prepared to oppose his landing. No 
sooner had his vessel touched the 
ground, than Louis leaped into the 
water, followed by his bravest troops, 
waded to the shore under a heavy 
fire of arrows, and attacked the ene- 
my with so much impetuosity, that 
they were instantly broken, and 
forced to fly in disorder. So great 
was the panic produced by this de- 
feat, that Damietta, which was well 
prepared to make a long resistance, 
was surrendered almost without a 
blow. 8. Louis, compelled to re- Louis ix. 
main at Damietta during the inundation of the Nile, had the 

some servants wliom she commanded to break the door. The ser- 
vants refused, dreading the consequences of a quarrel with the 




106 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

grief to see his soldiers give themselves up to every species 
of licentiousness. At length the falling of the waters per- 
mitted the advance of the crusaders, and Louis prepared to 
lay siege to Cairo. During the march, the army were ex- 
posed to incessant attacks from the Saracens, which, though 
they were always repulsed, greatly harassed the invaders. A 
more serious impediment soon appeared ; they reached the 
banks of the Astmoun canal, and were utterly at a loss how 
to proceed. 9. After some delay, an Arab, induced by a large 
bribe, pointed out a ford, and the count of Artois, brother to 
the king, passing over, defeated a body of Mamelukes who 
had been posted there to defend the passage. Contrary to the 
advice of the Templars, and those who were acquainted with 
the Saracenic mode of warfare, the count pursued the fugi- 
tives into the town of Massoura, where his cavalry were soon 
entangled in the streets. Assailed by stones from the roofs 
of the houses, and attacked by the troops, who had rallied 
afresh, the whole detachment would have perished had not 
Louis come to their assistance. The Saracens were finally 
defeated, but the victors had suffered more loss from the battle 
than the vanquished. 10. New combats increased the glory, 
but weakened the strength of the crusaders ; while the Sara- 
cens, constantly on the watch, cut off all their supplies ; 
famine and disease attacked the camp at the same time, while 
their enemies were every day strengthened by the arrival of 
fresh troops. While preparing to retreat to Damietta, the 
camp of the crusaders was suddenly attacked, when the king 
lay exhausted in his tent by disease and disappointment ; even 
in this bitter moment he displayed all the valour and energy 
of his character; he mounted his steed, and endeavoured to 
marshal his line, but fell exhausted by weariness. 11. One 
of his knights dragged him with difficulty out of the melee, 
and gave him in charge to a woman that followed the camp ; 
the victory of the Saracens was complete, and Louis remained 
a prisoner. 12. His queen, who had accompanied him in the 

church. The queen determined to accomplish her design, com- 
menced breaking the door herself; when the first blow was struck, 
the charm was dissolved, and an entrance was soon forced by the 
attendants. A multitude of men, women, and children, pallid and 
tottering through weakness, immediately came forth, and dreading 
to be subjected to fresh punishment, implored protection of the 
queen, who succeeded in delivering them from their state of bond- 
age to the chapter. 



LOUIS IX. 107 

expedition, was at Damietta when this unfortunate event oc- 
curred, unable to move, as she was near the time of her con- 
finement. An old knight was her only attendant, and from 
him she obtained a promise that he would put her to death 
sooner than see her fall into the hands of the Saracens. In 
the midst of this distress she was delivered of a son, whom, 
in allusion to her calamity, she named Tristan. 13. Louis 
entered into a treaty with the Sultan of Egypt, by which he 
agreed to restore Damietta for his own ransom, to pay one 
hundred thousand marks of silver for the redemption of the 
other captives, and to keep peace with the Saracens for ten 
years. From Egypt he proceeded to Palestine, where he col- 
lected the money that he had promised the sultan, and hon- 
ourably fulfilled all the conditions of the treaty. At length 
the news of his mother's death showed him the necessity of 
returning to his own dominions. Grief for the misfortunes 
of her son, and remorse for the unjust execution of two men 
whom she had deemed guilty of spreading a false account of 
the great calamity that had overwhelmed the French army, 
brought down the queen regent's gray hairs with sor- 
row to the grave. Louis, at his landing, was received ,.-,"^/ 
with the greatest joy by the people, but, at the same 
time, they remarked with sorrow, that he still continued to 
wear the cross, a sign that his crusading spirit was not yet 
extinct, and that he still meditated a new expedition. 

14. The affairs of the government at home engaged all the 
king's attention after his return ; the tyranny and oppression 
of the nobles had risen to an extravagant height, and the 
courts of justice were notoriously influenced by the most 
corrupt motives. In his own conduct, Louis exhibited the 
most difficult part of justice to put in practice, the virtue of 
restitution •, he ordered that all the fiefs which had been un- 
justly annexed to the royal domains, should be restored to 
their legitimate owners. He gave up to the king of England 
several of the towns which his father had conquered in 
Guienne, receiving in return a renunciation of that monarch's 
claims over Normandy and Touraine. 15. Such was the im- 
pression produced by this generous conduct, that 
Louis was chosen arbitrator of the disputes between n.^^^ 
Henry HI. and his turbulent barons, headed by the 
earl of Leicester. An assembly of tlie states of France was 
summoned at Amiens, and there, in the presence of that as- 
sembly, as well as in that of the king of England, and Peter 



108 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



de Montfort, Leicester's son, he brought this great cause to a 
trial and examination. The decision of Louis was, tliat the 
royal authority should be restored, and tiie provisions of 
Magna-Charta observed ; but this equitable sentence displeased 
both parties, and it became manifest that the dispute could 
only be settled by a civil war. 

16. During this reign the au- 
thority of the kings of France was 
extended over new portions of the 
southern provinces ; Charles of 
Anjou, brother to the king, before 
the crusade had been married to 
Beatrice, the heiress of Provence ; 
and thus the national independence 
of that interesting little country 
was annihilated. The Provencals 
made several ineffectual efforts to 
shake off the yoke, but these be- 
ing defeated, served only to rivet 
their fetters the tighter. Louis 
exchanged with the king of Arra- 
gon his right to Catalonia, for that 
monarch's claim to several towns 
in the south of France ; and ac- 
quired by purchase a great portion 
of the territories of the count of 
Champagne. 17. The prudence that dictated these measures 
seems to have forsaken the king on another occasion, where 
it is difficult to reconcile his conduct either with wisdom or 
justice. — The hatred which the popes had shown to Frederic 
IL extended to his posterity. On his death, Innocent IV. 
offered the crown of Naples to the king of England, for his 
second son prince Edmund ; but this invasion was defeated 
by the emperor Conrad, who appears to have inherited the 
abilities of his father. Soon after, the victor was poisoned by 
his natural brother Manfredi, who assumed the reins of go- 
vernment nominally as guardian to the young prince 
I9fifi Conradin. The pope however claimed the kingdom 
of Naples as a hef of the holy see, and offered it to 
Charles of Anjou. Louis was weak enough to permit his 
brother to accept the offer, and allowed a crusade to be 
preached throughout his dominions against Manfredi and 
Conradin. By this means Charles soon found himself at the 




Charles of Anjou, King of 
Sicily. 



LOUIS IX. 109 

head of a powerful army, and passing into Italy, defeated and 
slew Manfredi, at the battle of Benevento. Conradin, who 
was only sixteen years old at the time, still continued the 
war, but at length the superior skill of Charles prevailed, the 
young prince was defeated and made a prisoner. 

18. As Conradin had been excommunicated, his cruel cap- 
tor refused him the rights of a prisoner of war, and ordered 
him to be publicly executed. In this trying moment Con- 
radin exhibited a courage and spirit worthy of his illustrious 
race. When brought to the scaffold, he drew off his glove, 
and flinging it into the midst of the assembled multitude, en- 
treated the person into whose hands it might fall, to bear it 
to some of his relations as a symbol of inheriting his rights, 
and an obligation to avenge his judicial murder. The glove 
was picked up by a knight, and carried to Peter, king of 
Arragon, who subsequently exacted terrible vengeance for 
Conradin's death. 

19. Although the former crusade had been attended with 
such calamitous consequences, Louis was eager to engage in 
another ; and the English king, relieved from his difficulties 
by the defeat and death of the earl of Leicester, promised to 
send him a body of auxiliaries under the command of 

his gallant son Edward. 20. Louis did not wait for ^n^yn 
the arrival of his allies ; he embarked on board some 
Genoese vessels, but instead of proceeding to Egypt or Pales- 
tine, he directed his armament against Tunis. The siege had 
not lasted more than a few weeks when a pestilence broke 
out in the camp, and destroyed great numbers of the troops. 
At length the king himself fell sick, and finding his end ap- 
proaching, sent for his eldest son Philip, and put into his 
hands a manuscript containing directions for his future con- 
duct. He then received the comforts of religion prescribed 
by the Romish church, and piously resigned his soul into the 
hands of his Creator. 21. Charles, of Anjou, about the same 
time landed to join his brother, but he found Louis and his 
son Tristan dead, Philip sinking under disease, and the army 
on the brink of ruin. In these calamitous circumstances, 
Charles took upon himself the management of affairs, and 
adopted such measures as the emergency rendered necessary. 
22. Louis IX. was a goo^J, rather than a great king ; his 
piety was sincere and unaffected, but greatly sullied by the 
prejudices of the age. His crusading expeditions were not 
the only instances of his intolerance, for he continued the in- 
10 



110 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Funeral of St. Louis. 

quisition at Toulouse, and joined in the persecution of the 
unhappy Albigenses. He was so much attached to monastic 
institutions that he intended at one time to become a monk, 
and was with diiEculty dissuaded by his son and brother. To 
the lower ranks of his subjects he was deservedly dear ; he 
afforded them protection against the nobles, and appointed a 
day in every week for receiving and examining their petitions. 
He also increased the municipal privileges of cities and towns, 
established a judicious system of police, and encouraged com- 
mercial enterprise. His most valuable bequest to his subjects 
was a code of laws containing many judicious regulations.* 

* The reign of Saint Louis may be considered the golden age of 
religious communities in France. He founded several new monas- 
teries, and enlarged the revenues of others. He was constantly sur- 
rounded by monks, who inspired him with a blind confidence in all 
they did. The king was even anxious to enter the cloister, but be- 
ing prevented by the remonstrances of his family, he contented 
himself with practising the austerities of a monastic life. He kept 
all the fasts of the church in their utmost rigour, frequently per- 
formed severe penance, and even suffered himself to be whipped 
by his confessor. 

The following is the extraordinary list of relics which he pur- 
chased from the emperor Baldwin : — 1. Our Lord's crown of thorns. 
2. Part of the true cross. 3. A cross called the Cross of Triumph, 



LOUIS IX. 



Ill 



Finally, though he does not appear to have quite deserved the 
title of saint, it is certain that the name has been given to 
many of inferior merit. 

because it was carried before the Christian emperors in battle. 4. 
Some blood of Jesus Christ. 5. The clothes in which he was wrap- 
ped in his infancy. 6. Some blood that flowed from a miraculous 
image when struck by an infidel. 7. The chain with which Christ 
was bound. 8. The holy tablecloth. 9. A piece of the holy 
sepulchre. 10. Some of the virgin's milk. 11. Part of the head 
of the lance by which Christ was pierced. 12. Part of the purple 
robe. 13. The reed given to Christ as a sceptre. 14. Part of the 
sponge dipped in vinegar. 15. His grave-clothes. 16. The towel 
with which he wiped the feet of the apostles. 17. The rod of 
Moses. 18. The top of the head of St. John the Baptist. 19. The 
skiiiJs of St. Blaise, St Clement, and St. Simon. 




112 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Philip the Bo!d. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PHILIP THE HARDY AND PHILIP THE FAIR. 

Cruelties you 've practised, 
Practised on us with rigour, this hath forced us 
To shake our heavy yokes oif ; and if «-edress 
Of these just grievances be not granted us. 
We Ml right ourselves, and by strong ha id defend 
What we are now possessed of. 

Massijiger. 



A. D. 

1270. 



1. Phit.ip III. was twenty-five years old at the time 
of his father's death, but as he was sick of the disease 
which caused the death of Louis, Charles of Anjou 
took the command of the French army, and defeated every 
attack of the Moors. When Philip was recovered, he wisely 
resolved on withdrawing his forces from Africa. Peace was 
concluded with the king of Tunis, on condition that he 
should defray the expenses of the war, permit the public ex- 
ercise of Christianity in his dominions, liberate all his captives. 



PHILIP THE HARDY. 113 

and pay an annual tribute to Charles of Anjou. This was 
the last crusade ; these wars, which had cost the blood of 
two millions, and incalculable sums of money, terminated by 
leaving Palestine in the possession of the Mahommedans. 
2. After Philip had honoured his father's remains with a mag- 
nificent funeral, he applied himself to the affairs of state, but 
evinced in their management little of that spirit which in his 
earlier years had procured him the epithet Hardy or Bold. 
Warm, if not rash, in the formation of projects, the vigour 
with which he commenced his undertakings was lamentably 
contrasted with the weakness displayed in their execution. 
This instability of character exposed him to the artifices of 
favourites, and one La Brosse, who had been his father's bar- 
ber, having insinuated himself into the king's confidence, 
instigated him to the commission of several crimes. 3. On 
the death of his first wife, Philip was united in marriage to 
Maria of Brabant, a princess whose talents and accomplish- 
ments gave her considerable influence over the mind of her 
husband. Jealous of this. La Brosse resolved to effect her 
destruction, and on the death of Philip's eldest son, spread a 
report that he had been poisoned by his step-mother. Accord- 
ing to the custom of the age, the queen offered to prove her 
innocence by a judicial combat.* Her champion triumphed 
in the lists, and this was deemed a sufficient proof of her 
innocence. 

4. Alphonso, king of Castile, was a monarch so devoted to 
literary pursuits, that he totally neglected the affairs of his 
kingdom ; his eldest son had married Philip's sister, but on 
his death the widow and children were seized on, and impri- 
soned by Sancho, Alphonso's second son, who wished to 
secure the crown for himself Philip undertook the liberation 
of his nephews, but, by the treachery of his favourite, all his 
counsels were betrayed to Sancho, and he was obliged to re- 
treat without having performed any service. Soon after 
Philip learned the treason that had been practised by La 
Brosse, and he immediately ordered him to be executed. 

5. The tyrannical conduct of Charles of Anjou, in 
Sicily, had alienated the affections of his subjects ; . 'J 
Peter HI. of Arragon had received the glove of the 

* A nun, who pretended to the gift of prophecy, was also consulted 
by the king respecting the queen's guilt; and the testimony of this 
impostor, in favour of the accused, is said to have produced a very 
powerful effect on the mind of the king. 

10* H 



114 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

murdered Conradin, and was married to the daughter of Man- 
fredi ; Pope Nicholas HI. was indignant with Charles for 
having refused to give him his daughter for one of his ne- 
phews ; and from these circumstances originated one of the 
most atrocious conspiracies recorded in history. It was de- 
termined to massacre all the French in Sicily at the same mo- 
ment. John de Procida, whom Charles had illegally deprived 
of his property, was the principal agent in preparing this 
horrible tragedy : during two years the measures for its exe- 
cution were carried on with so much secresy, that not a single 
circumstance appeared which might warn the victims of their 
impending fate. 6. In this interval Nicholas died ; his suc- 
cessor was not made acquainted with the conspiracy, for, 
being a Frenchman by birth, it was feared that he would have 
prevented such an attack on the family of his native sovereign. 
The signal for arras was the ringing of the vesper bell* on 
Easter eve, whence this massacre is commonly called the 
Sicilian Vespers ; as soon as its fatal knell sounded, the un- 
suspecting Frenchmen were everywhere attacked, and in two 
hours one of that nation alone survived in the island,* whose 
superior probity made him respected even by the assassins. 
Peter of Arragon had waited the event with a considerable 
fleet on the coast of Africa, and as soon as he had learned the 
complete success of the conspiracy, hasted over to Sicily, 
where he was received as its legitimate sovereign. 

7. Peter dreaded the power of the king of France, who 
was greatly attached to his uncle, and in order to gain time, 
sent Charles a challenge to meet him, and decide their pre- 
tensions to Sicily by single combat. Charles, more chival- 
rous than wise, accepted the challenge ; and, on the morning 
of the appointed day, appeared on the ground that had been 
specified, but waited in vain for his antagonist ; at length the 
count of Anjou, wearied out, departed. Late in the evening 
of the same day Peter came, and satisfied with having made 
this mock appearance, returned from the field of battle with 
the utmost speed, pretending that he was afraid of being ar- 
rested and detained by the king of France. But during the 
absence of Charles, the Neapolitans had revolted, and his son 
had been taken prisoner by De Lauria, the Arragonese admi- 
ral, the most celebrated commander of the time. Charles of 
Anjou in vain endeavoured to retrieve his losses, and died of 
sheer vexation and disappointment. 

* His name was William des Pourcelets, a native of Provence. 



PHILIP THE FAIR. 



115 



8, The pope had in the meantime excommunicated 
tlie king of Arragon, and given his dominions to io'qp-" 
Ciiarles, the second son of Philip. The French king 
advanced with a powerful army to place his son on the 
throne, but his success did not answer his expectations ; his 
fleet was captured by De Lauria, and disheartened by the mis- 
fortune, he resolved to return home. On his way back he 
died at Perpignan in the forty-first year of his age. 9. The 
reign of Philip is not remarkable for any improvement in the 
territories or government of France : he is said to have been 
the first monarch that granted patents of nobility, a preroga- 
tive which he exercised in favour of his goldsmith, who was 
also his banker. 

10. Philip IV., surnamed 
the Fair, obtained the crown 
in his seventeenth year : the 
war with the king of Arra- 
gon still continued ; but, after 
much bloodshed, the son of 
Peter retained possession of 
Sicily and Arragon, while the 
son of Charles of Anjou was 
permitted to keep the crown 
of Naples. 11. This war 
had scarcely terminated, when 
another more furious arose 
out of a trivial circumstance. 
A quarrel having arisen be- 
tween an English and a Nor- 
man sailor, the latter was 
slain. The Normans cruized 

against the English to revenge the death of their coun- 
tryman ; but they were defeated, and an English fleet ^qo 
appearing on their coast, plundered several of their 
towns. Philip summoned Edward 1. as duke of Guienne, to 
appear before the court of peers, and answer for having borne 
arms against his suzerain ; Edward sent his brother, the earl 
of Cornwall, to plead his cause, but he being overmatched by 
the policy of Philip, surrendered some towns in Guienne as 
pledges for his brother's appearance, which, when Philip once 
got into his possession, he refused to restore. The English 
engaged the count of Flanders on their side, while Philip per- 
suaded the king of Scotland to espouse his cause, 12. This 




Philip the Fair. 



A. D. 



116 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

war was fatal to the allies on both sides ; the principals en- 
tered into a treaty of peace which was cemented by a double 
marriage, Edward espousing Margaret, sister to the king of 
France ; and his son, afterwards the unfortunate Edward II., 
was married to Philip's daughter Isabella. Edward then di- 
rected his whole strength against Scotland, which he easily 
subdued ; and Philip sent his uncle, Charles of Valois, to at- 
tack Flanders, which was unable to make any effective re- 
sistance. The count of Flanders was in the decline of life ; 
he had served in the crusades under Saint Louis, and believing 
that he had therefore some claim on the moderation of France, 
he obtained a safe conduct from Charles of Valois, and pro- 
ceeded to Paris. Philip, contrary to the law of nations, 
threw him into prison, and the Flemings, partly by bribes, 
and partly by force, were completely subjected to the French 
crown. 

13. But Philip the Fair had soon to engage with a more 
formidable enemy, pope Boniface VIII., whose manner of ob-_ 
taining the papal crown is the best description of his charac- 
ter. He persuaded Celestine V., who, with all the sanctity 
of an anchorite, was the most simple of the human race, to 
abdicate an employment for which he was totally unfitted, 
and then got himself elected in his room. He afterwards 
confined the virtuous Celestine in a vile prison, and had him 
put to death. No one was ever more intoxicated with the 
chimerical pretensions of the Church of Rome to universal 
empire than Boniface ; he sent his orders to all crowned 
heads as if he had been their legitimate sovereign. 14. But 
the obstinacy of Philip was fully a match for the violence of 
Boniface ; when summoned by the pope to appear at Rome 
and answer for his invasion of Flanders, Philip treated the 
insolent message with merited contempt, and thus provoked 
the anger of the pontiff, who wanted only an opportunity of 
venting his indignation. This he soon obtained ; Philip see- 
ing his resources exhausted, insisted that the clergy should 
bear a part of the burdens of the state; they, on their part, 
claimed their privilege of exemption, and appealed to Rome. 
15. Boniface forthwith published a bull, prohibiting the clergy, 
or any religious order, to pay any tax whatever without the 
pope's special permission ; and all who either paid or received 
such tax were declared to be excommunicated. Philip in his 
turn issued an edict, prohibiting the exportation of money 
from the kingdom, a severe stroke against the court of Rome, 



PHILIP THE FAIR. 117 

which annually obtained enormous sums from France. Boni- 
face declared by another bull, that if the prohibition extended 
to him and the clergy it was madness^ as no secular princes 
had any authority over them. The king retorted by a spirited 
manifesto, that as the clergy were members of the state they 
were as much interested in its preservation as the rest of the 
people, and ought therefore to contribute to its necessities. 
The pope replied by a series of bulls in rapid succession, 
each more violent than the preceding, but Philip treated them 
with contempt, and declared tliat he believed the pope had 
lost his senses. 16. At length, to put an end to this unseemly 
contest, Philip assembled the states general; this as- 
sembly consisted of the clergy and nobles, to whom , „'^„' 
Philip, for the first time, added deputies from the com- 
mons. The states general unanimously asserted the inde- 
pendence of the crown, but in their declarations of attach- 
ment to the king, most of the clergy inserted the following 
clause; saving the fidelity due to the pope. Had Boniface 
mingled any share of prudence with his violence, he might 
have had better success ; but his rashness and vehemence 
only covered him with ridicule. He held a council at Rome, 
in which he procured it to be decided, that the two swords 
mentioned in the gospel were symbols of the temporal and 
spiritual authority with which the pope was invested. 17. 
He published the bull which, from its two first words, is com- 
monly called Unam Sanctum, in which it is declared, that 
" the temporal sword ought to be employed by kings and 
warriors in the service of the "church, as the pope shall per- 
mit and direct. The temporal power is subject to the spiritual, 
and cannot itself be judged but by God alone. To resist the 
spiritual power, then, is to resist God, unless the two princi- 
ples of the Manichaeans be admitted." 18. Philip again had 
recourse to a council of the states ; before them the chevalier 
de Nagaret, advocate-general, accused the pope of simony, 
heresy, and magic, and insisted on the necessity of his depo- 
sition. Boniface, on his part, put the kingdom under an in- 
terdifct, and ofiered the crown of France to Albert of Austria, 
whom he had hitherto treated as a rebel and usurper, but 
whom he acknowledged as emperor when about to employ 
him as the instrument of his passion. All the orders of the 
kingdom joining with Philip appealed to a future pope and a 
general council against what had been or should be done to 
the disadvantage of the royal authority. 19. Boniface fulmi- 



118 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

nated his bulls against the king and the nation, and was pre- 
paring another still more injurious to crowned heads, when 
he was arrested at Anagni by Nagaret and Sciarra Colonna. 
The latter, who was the pontiff's personal enemy, loaded him 
with abuse, and even struck him on the face : perhaps Boni- 
face might have been subjected to still greater indigni- 
1 ^n^ ^'^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ people of the town taken up arms in 
his defence, and rescued him from the hands of his 
enemies. The pontiff returned to Rome, but vexation for the 
insult he had received threw him into a fever, and his death 
relieved Philip from his most dangerous enemy. 

20. During the heat of the disputes with Boniface, Philip 
the Fair experienced a sad reverse of fortune. The tyranny 
of the governors to whom the administration of affairs in 
Flanders had been committed, made the Flemings rebel, and, 
being animated by a simple citizen of Bruges, they massacred 
almost all the French. The count d'Artois, who was sent 
with a numerous army to reduce them, despising them as a 
mob, rashly exposed himself in the year 1302, when he lost 
the famous battle of Courtrai, where he and the flower of the 
French nobility fell. So many knights were slain, that four 
thousand gilt spurs remained with the enemy as monuments 
of their victory. 

21. The king marched in person to exact vengeance for his 
loss, but his first campaign was ineffectual, and though he 
obtained a great victory the following year, the revolters re- 
turned so often to the charge, that the king exclaimed, *' I 
believe it rains Flemings." 22. A treaty was at length made, 
by which it was agreed that the count of Flanders should be 
restored to his dominions on condition of his acknowledging 
the king of France as his suzerain, and thus, after torrents of 
blood were shed, matters reverted to their original situation. 
Nearly at the same time, Robert Bruce expelled the English 
from Scotland, and thus these unjust aggressions, which com- 
menced at the same time, had the same disgraceful termination. 

23. Though Benedict XI., the successor of the 
^nn^ vloleut Bonifacc, had absolved Philip the Fair from the 
excommunication, that haughty and revengeful prince 
was not yet satisfied. After the death of Benedict, the cardi- 
nals being divided into two parties, lie caused the votes to fall 
upon Bertrand de Got, a native of Gascony, devoted to the 
interests of France. The principal bulls of Boniface were 
suspended or annihilated, and a prosecution commenced 



PHILIP THE FAIR. 



119 



against his memory. The council assembled at Vienna ^ ^ 
for this extraordinary trial acquitted the deceased pon- ^^^^ 
tifF of heresy, and refused to investigate the other 
charges. Two Spanish knights otfered to vindicate his 
memory by judicial combat; a strange proposition to make 
in a council ! 

24. The Templars, a military 
and religious order instituted for 
the recovery of Palestine, had 
rendered themselves odious by 
their riches, pride, and debauch- 
ery ; their immense possessions 
had excited the cupidity of Philip, 
and he prevailed on the 

^ . PI- A. D. 

pope to unite with nim |orv.y 
for their destruction. 
Under the pretence of consulting 
about a new crusade, they were 
summoned to meet at Paris, and 
no sooner had they assembled, 
than they were all arrested and 
thrown into prison. They were 
accused of the most horrid, but 
at the same time the most absurd 
crimes, and were tortured into confessions. These they 
afterwards retracted, and were in consequence sentenced to 
death as relapsed heretics and traitors. 25. Fifty-seven of 
the knights were burned alive, and after some delay, James 
de Molai and three others were put to death by the most ex- 
cruciating tortures, protesting the innocence of the order with 
their last breath. The property of the Templars was nomi- 
nally transferred to the Hospitallers, now called the knights 
of Malta, but the greater part of it was retained by their per- 
secutors. 

26. The expenses of the crusades and other vpars, had so 
impoverished the royal exchequer, that Philip debased the 
coin to recruit his finances; an expedient which produced 
incalculable evils. Some of his regulations were, however, 
more valuable ; he gave form and permanency to the courts 
of justice, which the French call parliaments ; he introduced 
into them legists^ or men of the law, by whose report causes 
were decided, and raised the legal profession to its proper im- 
portance in the state. 




A Kniglit Templar. 



120 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

27. If we were to judge of the national manners from those 
of the court during this reign, the following anecdote must 
give us a dreadful idea of them. Before the death of Philip 
the Fair, the wives of his three sons were accused of adultery. 
One of them was strangled in prison ; the second escaped by 
saying that her marriage was null on account of kindred ; and 
the third was reconciled to her husband. 

28. Pliilip died by a fall from his horse while hunting, in 
the 46th year of his age and 28th of his reign. 

29. It was during this reign that the league of Swiss inde- 
pendence was formed. The emperor Albert of Austria, seeing 
the spirit of liberty spreading among his subjects, thought 
that he could stifle it by the rigours of a despotic government. 
Three cantons, tha't of Schweilz, which gave name to the en- 
tire confederacy, and those of Ury and Underswalden leagued 
together in 1307, to free themselves from an odious yoke, 
and after a series of brilliant victories, succeeding in establish- 
ing a free constitution. 

The public discontent during the reign of Philip the Fair, 
had, by a variety of circumstances, been excited throughout 
the realm. Among the number of exactions, the coin had 
been debased to meet the exigencies of the state, and this 
obstructing the operations of commerce, and inflicting wrongs 
to a greater or less extent upon all classes, every one loudly 
complained of injustice, robbery, and oppression, and in the 
end several tumults occurred, in which the residence of the 
king himself was attacked, and the whole population were 
with difficuly restrained from insurrection. In Burgundy, 
Champagne, Artois, and Forez, indeed, the nobles, and bur- 
gess class having for the first time made common cause of 
their grievances, spoke openly of revolt against the royal 
authority, unless the administration should be reformed, and 
equity be substituted in the king's courts for the frauds, 
extortions, and malversations, which prevailed. The sudden 
death of Philip delivered the people from their tyrant, and 
the crown from the consequences of a general rebellion. 
Pope Clement, the king's firm friend, had gone to his last 
account on the 20th of the preceding April. 

As the feudal system declined, the nobles became less of 
fighters, and their chateaux (for in France every gentleman's 
house is called a chateau) became less like fortresses. The 
castle of Joinville is a fair specimen of the ancient feudal 
castle. The dwelling of the chief is placed on the top of 



PHILIP THE FAIR. 



121 



the hill, surrounded by a wall, which, although it is appa- 
rently intended more for ornament than defence, is a wall 
nevertheless. Along the slope of the hill is a vineyard ; and 
there, during times of danger, the labourers, while at work, 
were under the protection of the archers on the walls. At 
the bottom of all is the town or village, where the houses of 
the serfs stood clustering under the eye and shelter of their 
liege lord. The French built their casdes with loftier towers 
and with still more massy walls than the English. In the 
general plan and disposition of the different parts of the 
building, they were probably much alike. We find, how- 
ever, one dissimilarity in the interior arrangements which 
may be worth noticing. The lord of an English castle 
always dwelt in the centre tower or keep, the upper part of 
which was occupied with the state apartment ; while in a 
French castle the keep, or, as they call it, the donjon tower, 
was the habitation of the four principal officers ; and the 
lord or castellan had a separate house in the outer ballium, 
which in an English castle, was the place appropriated for 
the barracks and stables, &c. 




Huntsman and Valet of Philip the Fair. 
11 



122 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Louis X. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LOUIS THE QUARRELSOME. — PHILIP THE LONG.— 
CHARLES THE FAIR. 

In quick succession regal forms pass by, 

Their pride, their power, but creatures of the day, 

Like the bright meteor of a summer sky, 
Their short-lived glory dies and fades away. 

Cooke. 

1. Louis X., surnamed Hutin, or the quarrelsome, 
iqii succeeded his father, and commenced his reign with 
an act of injustice, sacrificing the superintendant 
Marigni, who was persecuted by the public hatred, and un- 
justly accused of being the author of the national misery. 
Some Italian financiers, for the French were too ignorant to 
transact the business of the revenue, had caused the coin to 
be debased during the late reign, and this pernicious system 
was attributed to Marigni. Magic made one of the articles 
of his indictment, and absurdity served instead of proofs. 



LOUIS THE QUARRELSOME. 



123 



The count de Valois, uncle to the king, and the minister's 
personal enemy, caused him to be condemned without a 
hearing, and hanged as if he were a worthless criminal. His 
death was in some degree avenged by the remorse with which 
the count was seized, and even the people were afflicted at 
his execution. 

2. In the mean time, money was wanted to supply the 
exigencies of the state ; and the same expedients which had 
occasioned disturbances on former occasions, could not be 
repeated. A scheme was therefore conceived to sell liberty 
to the inhabitants of the country, who were still serfs, bound 
to the soil, and could not leave the lands of their lords, or 
dispose of their property. 3. The king's edict for the general 
enfranchisement, says, " accordirtg to the law of nature every 
man is born free ;" an expression the more remarkable, as 
that natural right was obliged to be purchased ; and what 
appears rather whimsical, numbers who were not desirous of 
freedom were actually compelled to purchase it against their 
will. 4. Louis engaged in war with the Flemings, aild formed 
' the siege of Courtray, but the elements conspired against him ; 
famine also appeared in his camp, and he was compelled to 
withdraw his army. He died the following year, not without 
some suspicions of poison. 

5. After the death of 
Louis, a great difficulty ioi« 
arose about the succes- 
sion. The queen was delivered 
of a son, who lived only eight 
days ; and the duke of Burgundy 
maintained that Joanna, the king's 
daughter, ought to succeed ; but 
the three estates of the realm de- 
cided that, according to the Salic 
law, no female could inherit the 
crown of France. They there- 
fore elected Philip V., surnamed 
the Long, brother to the late king. 
6. This did not extend to any 
other countries, nor even to the 
grand fiefs. Joanna, whose claim 
had been rejected, was acknow- 
ledged queen of Navarre, which 
thus became again separated from 
France. 




Philip the Long. 



124 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

7. The Jews and lepers were accused of having agreed 
with the Turks to poison all the wells and springs ; their 
real crime was, that the former had acquired great wealth by 
commerce, and that the charitable bequests made to erect 
lazar-houses or hospitals for the latter, amounted to a very 
considerable sum. Great numbers of these unfortunate people 
were burned, and their property seized by the king. 

8. During the brief reign of Philip, some good was done, 
and much more attempted. He excluded the bishops from 
parliament, where they had too great influence, in order that 
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction might no longer interfere with 
the civil tribunals. He paid large sums to several barons as a 
compensation for their resigning their privilege of coining 
money, which they had grossly abused. The frequency of 
private wars, and the disturbances which party quarrels con- 
tinually created, had risen to an intolerable height; and, as a 
remedy, the king compelled the citizens to deposit their arms 
in arsenals, from whence they could not be taken but in his 
wars, and for his service. He proposed to fix an uniform 
standard for money, weights, and measures, through his do- 
minions ; but the nobles every where opposed this beneficial 
project, which they supposed to be in some way or other 
connected with a new scheme of taxation ; and while the 
matter was yet in debate, Philip was seized with a quartan 
fever, which soon terminated his existence. 

9. As he died without male issue, his brother 
1^22 Charles IV., surnamed the Fair, succeeded him with- 
out opposition. The great vassals of the crown were 
summoned to attend the coronation ; all obeyed but the count 
of Flanders, and the duke of Guienne, who was also king of 
England. This was made the pretext for a war on the 
dominions that the English still retained on the continent ; 
and Charles of Valois being sent with a numerous arrny, re- 
duced Edmund, earl of Kent, brother to the king of England, 
and governor of the province, to such straits that he was 
compelled to surrender himself a prisoner. He was, however, 
permitted to return home, on the condition that if the king 
of England did not, within a certain space, give satisfaction to 
his suzerain, the earl of Kent should come back to his prison. 
10. Edward H., who was at that time on the throne of 
England, was a prince equally weak and unfortunate ; by his 
attachment to favourites, he had provoked the enmity of his 
queen and nobility, who were secretly preparing to removt 



CHARLES THE FAIR. 125 

him from the throne. When the earl of Kent arrived in Eng- 
land, queen Isabella offered to conduct the negociation with 
her brother the king of France. She took her children with 
her on this journey, and conducted the negociations with so 
much prudence, that her son, prince Edward, was invested 
with the duchy of Guienne, and the county of Poictou, foi 
which he did homage. 11. But Isabella, after having finished 
this business, refused to return home, pretending that her life 
was endangered by the Spencers, and applied to her brother 
for assistance and protection. Charles at first espoused the 
cause of Isabella, but disgusted with the open preference she 
showed for the company of Mortimer, more than suspected 
of being her paramour, he ordered her to quit his dominions. 
12. Driven from France, she retired to the county of Fonthieu, 
and from thence to Hainault, where the brother of the count, 
according to the custom of the times, declared himself her 
knight, and assembled a large body of troops, by which she 
was enabled to vanquish and imprison her unfortunate hus- 
band. 

13. The pope during this reign was involved in a long war, 
and made several attempts to obtain money from the Galilean 
Church, which were successfully resisted by the king and the 
clergy. But the pope, by offering to share with the monarch, 
induced him to withdraw his opposition, and the clergy were 
forced to submit to their united influence. 

14. Charles of Valois, who had acted so conspicu- 
ous a part in this and the former reigns, was seized iook 
with a disease, which being unknown to the physi- 
cians, was of course attributed to magic •, while a kw sus- 
pected that he had been poisoned, for during this century the 
crime of assassination by poison had fearfully increased in 
France. On his death-bed he bitterly repented the share that 
he had in procuring the unjust condemnation of Marigni, and 
took every means in his power to efface the stigma that had 
been affixed to his character. It was remarked of Charles as 
of the English John of Gaunt, that though he never sat upon 
the throne, yet his father, brother, nephew, and son, were 
kings. 

15. Charles the Fair, though avaricious, appears to 
have been a good king ; he provided for the due ad- , o^q 
ministration of justice, and employed no ministers but 

such as were distinguished for wisdom and integrity. He 
died at Vincennes at the early age of thirty-four. 
11* 



126 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



Education was at a low ebb in France at this period. 
One circumstance was favourable, however, of a college. 
The Latin was employed less exclusively, and the vulgar 
tongue, that is, the language of the country, began to take its 
place. The pretended science of astrology became about 
this time a favourite study.. It is not known whether or 
not it was taught in the University of Paris ; but it is cer- 
tain that after this period Master Gervaise, astrologer to 
Charles V., founded a college in Paris for the express use 
of students in astrology, which college was afterwards sup- 
pressed, and the building is now a barrack for veteran sol- 
diers. The university of Paris was filled with students of 
all nations. 




Charles the Fair. 



PHILIP OF VALOIS. 



127 




Philip VI. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PHILIP VI., CALLED ALSO PHILIP OF VALOIS, AND 
THE FORTUNATE. 

Hopeless and sad they mourn'd their heroes slain, 
The best and bravest on their native plain, 
The king himself in deeper sorrow mourn'd ; 
With rage and mingled grief his bosom burn'd. 
Like the grim lion, when his offspring slain 
He sees, and round him draws the hunter's train ; 
Couch'd in the shade with fell intent he lies, 
And glares upon his foes with burning eyes. 

Epigoitiad. 



A. D. 



I. The death of the three last monarchs without 
male issue, made room for the election of Philip, and j 3*28'^ 
procured him the surname of Fortunate, an epithet 
which the misfortunes of his calamitous reign strongly con- 



128 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

tradicted. Another candidate for the crown was Edward III. 
of England, and as their respective claims are not very com- 
monly understood, it may be useful to state them. Edward 
was son to the sister of the late king, Philip was that mon- 
arch's cousin-german. 2. The points admitted on both sides 
were, that a nephew was a nearer relative tlian a cousin, and 
that no female could inherit the crown ; but on the part of 
Edward,* it was contended, that though his mother could not 
have ascended the throne, yet as her claim was only barre(i 
by the incident of her sex, she could transmit her claim to 
her next male representative, who would, therefore, possess 
the right free from the disqualification. On the part of Philip, 
it was asserted that the exclusion of females was absolute, 
that Isabella consequently never had a right to the throne, 
and therefore could not transmit that wliich she never pos- 
sessed. The peers and great barons of France were assem- 
bled to decide this great question ; Robert d'Artois, count de 
Beaumont, warmly supported the cause of Philip, and finally 
prevailed in having him acknowledged as sovereign. 

3. This reign was almost one continued series of wars ; 
the first in which Philip engaged was with the Flemings, who 
had expelled their count and his principal nobility The very 
day after his coronation, Philip advanced against these insur- 
gents, accompanied by the king of Bohemia, and the count 
of Hainaull. The Flemings took up a strong position on the 
mountains near Cassel, and when they saw the French en- 
camped in the valley below, undertook an enterprise of great 
hardihood, which was very near being crowned with success. 
Dividing their army into three bodies, they made a desperate 
attempt to break into the French camp and seize the three 
leaders; the French, however, were on the alert, and the three 
parties, overwhelmed by superior numbers, suffered very se- 

* When Edward assumed the arms of France, he explained his 
claim to them in the following Leonine verses, — 

Anglorum regno sum ego rex jure paterno, 

Matris jure quidem Gallorum nuncupor idem ; 

Hinc est armorum variatio justa meorum. 
To this specimen of royal reasoning in verse, a Frenchman re- 
plied in the following lines, — 

Prsedo regnorum qui diceris esse dnorum, 

Regno materno privaberis atque paterno, 

Mater ubi nullum jus, natus non habet ullura ; 

Hinc est armorum variatio stulta tuorum. 



PHILIP OF VALOIS. 129 

verely ; but such was their determined valour, that they main- 
tained the fight until night, and Philip dreading their despair, 
drew off his troops to allow them an opportunity of retreat- 
ing. 4. In consequence of this victory, all Flanders sub- 
mitted to the victorious monarch ; several of the towns were 
dismantled, others deprived of their municipal privileges, and 
compelled to receive foreign garrisons ; the leaders of the in- 
surgents were driven into banishment, and thus the country 
was reduced to apparent tranquillity; but there remained a 
bitter hatred of the invaders in the breasts of the population, 
which only waited for an opportunity to burst forth with 
fresh violence. 

5. The delay of Edward to perform homage for the duchy 
of Guienne created suspicions in the mind of Philip; he 
therefore sent an embassy to England, summoning him as his 
vassal to appear under pain of forfeiting his fief Edward on 
this assembled his council ; the state of the kingdom com- 
pelled him to temporize ; the nation was still distracted by 
the intrigues between the queen-dowager and Mortimer; the 
Scots under the Bruces were a powerful nation, and in close 
alliance with France; Edward, therefore, saw that the time 
was not yet arrived for preferring his claim, and resolved to 
wait for a more favourable opportunity. 6. Having privately 
made a protestation to his council that he reserved his claim 
to the throne of France, he promised that he would in a short 
time proceed to Philip's court, and there perform homage 
similar to his predecessors. Accordingly, in a short time Ed- 
ward went to Amiens, where Philip, accompanied by the kings 
of Bohemia and Majorca, made the most brilliant preparations 
for his reception. 7. The English monarch acknowledged 
himself a vassal to the crown of France in general terms, but 
absolutely refused to perform liege homage ;* Philip insisted 
on this important ceremony, and Edward, either fearing, or 
pretending to fear, that he would be detained as a prisoner, 
privately returned to England. Soon after, dreading that 
Philip might seize on Guienne, he executed letters patent 
sealed with the great seal of England, in which he acknow- 
ledged that, as duke of Guienne, he owed liege homage to the 
king of France. 

* The important phrase used in liege homage was, "I become 
/our man," a humiliating expression which Edward was naturally 
unwilling to use. 

I 



130 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

8. Philip, believing that his throne was now perfectly se- 
cure, prepared to embark on a new crusade, and for this pur- 
pose levied considerable sums on the nobles, clergy, and 
people; One of his taxes, that on salt, called the gahelle^ 
was particularly obnoxious ; in allusion to it, Edward called 
Philip the inventor of the Salic law. 9. But the money 
which he had raised for this purpose was soon diverted to 
other objects. 10. Several circumstances occurred nearly at 
the same time, adverse to Philip and favourable to Edward, 
which induced the latter to assert his claim to the crown of 
France, and to prepare for an invasion of that kingdom. Ro- 
bert of Artois, to whom Philip was in a great degree indebted 
for his crown, had been deprived by the king of the county 
of Artois, and in consequence of some rash expressions of 
indignation, had been driven out of the kingdom. The Fle- 
mings, enraged by the loss of their privileges, were eager to 
engage in a new insurrection ; and de Montfort, a claimant for 
the duchy of Brittany, saw that he could not succeed without 
the aid of England, as his competitor was a favoured cousin 
of the French king. At the same time, Edward, by the im- 
prisonment of the queen-dowager, and the execution of her 
paramour Mortimer, had restored tranquillity and order to 
England, while his signal victory over the Scots had freed 
him from all dangers on that side. 

11. The war that now broke out is remarkable for 
the numerous instances of chivalrous heroism it exhi- 
bited, and on that account its history is valuable, as 
throwing some light on the state of society and manners pro- 
duced by the institution of chivalry. No sooner had Edward 
and his allies resolved on the war, than they severally wrote 
challenges to Philip, and sent them to him by a bishop ! Sir 
Walter Manny, without waiting for a declaration of war, in- 
vaded France on the side of Flanders, and by the successes 
that he obtained, both inspired the English with fresh courage, 
and induced the Flemings openly to embrace the quarrel. 12. 
The principal person employed by Edward to stir up the 
people of Flanders was Jacob Van Arteveld, a rich merchant, 
whose great wealth gave him more influence than was pos- 
sessed by any nobleman at the time ; he prevailed on the 
towns to declare in favour of England, and when some scru- 
pled to violate the allegiance they had so lately sworn, Edward 
assumed the title and arms of king of France^ and thus quieted 
their consciences. 



A. D. 

1336. 



PHILIP OF VAT.OTS. 



131 



13. Philip having entered into alliance with the king of 
Castile, obtained from him the aid of a fleet, which, united 
with his own, dreadfully ravaged the coasts of England; but 
being soon after met by Edward, near the Scheldt, a fierce 
engagement ensued, in which the French were defeated, with 
the loss of half their vessels and twenty thousand men. 14. 
Edward followed up this victory by attacking several towns 
on the borders of Flanders ; but in the midst of his suc- 
cesses he consented to a truce, which by the interference of 
a papal legate was protracted for two years. 

15. The war again 
broke out on the loji* 
side of Brittany. 
John de Montfort had been 
taken prisoner by his rival, 
and sent a prisoner to Paris ; 
Charles of Blois thought 
that his triumph was secure, 
but Margaret, countess of 
Montfort, one of the great- 
est heroines that the world 
has produced, defended the 
sinking cause of her hus- 
band, and with unexampled 
intrepidity, prepared for a 
desperate resistance. 16. 
At length she was shut up 
in the castle of Hermebond, 
and so closely besieged that 
every chance of escape 
seemed cut off: she had 
even commenced to treat of a surrender, but turning once 
more an anxious glance to the sea, she saw in the distance 
the English fleet, under Sir Walter Manny, coming to her re- 
lief; all thoughts of yielding were given up, and that evening 
Hermebond was relieved. The siege, however, was still con- 
tinued, but Manny, at the head of a small body of adventur- 
ous knights sallied out, destroyed the engines of the besieg- 
ers, and returned almost without loss to Hermebond. The 
countess was so pleased with this exploit, that she ran out 
and kissed Manny in the street, declaring that he was truly a 
gallant and accomplished chevalier. Charles of Blois soon 




Jolia (le Montfort and his Countess 



132 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



after consented to a iruce, anil Margat'et passed over to Eng- 
land in order to obtain more effective aid, 

17. A sliocking act of treachery on the part of the 
, ' ' king of France renewed the flames of war. Oliver de 
Clisson, w^ith several other knights of Brittany, had 
accompanied Charles of Blois to a tournament at Paris ; Philip 
suspectmg that they were secretly attached to the English, 
had them all seized and put to death without even ihe form 
of a trial. 18. The French nobility were justly indignant at 
this infamous proceeding, and withdrew their affections fiom 
a monarch who had acted with so much cruelly and perfidy. 
Edward on liearing of the event prepared to renew the war 
with greater spirit than ever : he proceeded himself to Nor- 
mandy ; the earl of Derby was directed to attack France on 
the side of Guienne, and Robert of Artois was sent to sup- 
port the de JVlontfort party in Brittany. 19. Although Nor- 
mandy had been so lately a fief to the English, crown, its in- 
habitants made a fierce resistance 
to the invaders, and were conse- 
quently treated by them with 
great severity ; having laid waste 
their country, the English mon- 
arch advanced into Picardy, 
marking his path by ruin and 
desolation as far as the gates of 
Paris. 20. At length Philip col- 
lected an army far superior in 
number to the invaders, and Ed- 
ward retreated with the utmost 
speed towards the boundaries of 
Flanders. But the rapid advance 
of the French compelled him to 
make a stand, and though lie had 
only 24,000 rnen, enfeebled by 
fatigue and disease, he resolved 
to hazard an engagement with 
Philip's army, amounting to 
more than 100,000 men, on the memorable plains of Cre§y. 
. „„ 21. The king of France had encamped the night 
ifaR ' '^^''°''^ ^^^ battle at Abbeville, about nine miles from 
the field of battle ; the morning of tlie engagement 
was spent in consultations, and when tlie resolution to fight 
was taken, the march was made with so much haste that the 




Charlos of Blois, 



PHILIP OF VALOIS. 



133 



ranks were a little disordered. Several other circumstances 
contributed to increase this confusion; the sun and wind were 
in the face of the advancing army ; an order to halt, partially 
heard and still more partially obeyed, mingled the first and 
second lines *, finally a heavy shower of rain damaged the 
bow-strings of the Genoese archers, on whom Philip placed 
his principal reliance. 22. At length about four o'clock in 
the afternoon they came in sight of the English army, drawn 
up in three lines, of which the foremost was commanded by 
Edward the Black Prince, and the reserve by the king him- 
self. 23. Having made a brief pause, the count d'Alengon 
ordered the Genoese archers to begin in the name of God and 
St. Dennis. They advanced in rather a strange way ; they 
took three leaps forward, setting up a shout after each ; and 




Battle of Crecy. 



12 



134 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



when they had given the third spring they discharged their 
arrows. But as their strings had been damaged by the rain 
their shot produced but little effect, while the English archers, 
who had kept their bows in cases, returned a flight of arrows 
so close and well directed, that the Genoese fell into irreme- 
diable disorder. The count d'Alengon, surprised and morti- 
fied at the conduct of the archers, called out treason, ordered 
the cavalry to ride over the run-a-ways, and fall on the Eng- 
lish lines. This foolish command increased the confusion •, 
the cavalry rode down their own archers, but were in their 
turn entangled among the routed Genoese, while the English 
archers kept up an incessant " hail-shower of shafts," that did 
fearful execution, " There were besides," says an old histo- 
rian, " some rough feUotvs in the English army, who being 
armed only with knives, ran out of the ranks when they saw 
a knight dismounted and cut his throat." 24. When Alen^on 

at last freed himself from this 
tangled rout and came up with 
the English line, his troops were 
disordered and out of breath, 
while his enemies were fresh 
and vigorous. The French che- 
valiers maintained the battle 
valiantly, but the total want of 
discipline in their army, the dis- 
order of their ranks, and the 
continued fire of the archers, 
who availed themselves of every 
opportunity, rendered all their 
valour unavailing. 25. The 
blind king of Bohemia, who 
had accompanied his friend and 
ally to this fatal field, hearing 
the rout, resolved to lose his life rather than fly, and ordered 
two of his knights to fasten the reins of his horse to the 
bridle of theirs and gallop with him into the midst of the 
enemy, that he might strike one good stroke. His commands 
were obeyed ; he fell in the first line fighting valiantly, and 
the three ostrich feathers which adorned his crest, together 
with his motto Ich Dien, / serve, were assumed by the 
Black Prince, and have ever since been the cognizance of 
princes of Wales. 26. Philip made several efibrts to rally 
his troops, but they were ineffectual, and at length his at- 




Crossbow Man, from nn old Picture 
of the Battle of Crecy. 



PHILIP OF VALOIS. 



135 




Earl of Alencon, killed at Crepy. 



tendants bore him off badly- 
wounded from the field. The 
battle continued until late in the 
evening, and several slight 
skirmishes took place during 
the night; but on the follow- 
ing morning the English learned 
the extent of their victory ; 
thirty thousand of the enemy's 
infantry, and twelve hundred 
knights, amongst whom were 
the kings of Bohemia and Ma- 
jorca, lay upon the plain. 27. 
There appears to have been no 
quarter given in this battle. As 
a signal of his determination 
to show no mercy, Philip in 
the commencement of the bat- 
tle had ordered the Oriflamme 
to be unfurled, which added, to all the other advantages of 
the English, the furious courage arising from despair. 

28. The day after the battle was equally distinguished by 
slaughter; large bodies of recruits from the neighbouring 
towns had come to join the army of Philip, whom they be- 
lieved marching to certain victory ; these unfortunate persons 
fell in with a detachment of the English, and were literally 
slaughtered without resistance. 

29. In another part of the kingdom, the French suffered a 
similar calamity about this time. John, duke of Normandy, 
son of king Philip, had been long besieging the castle of 
Aiguillon, on the borders of Guienne, and had made a vow 
that he would not depart from before its Avails until he had 
captured the place ; but the valour of the garrison, and the 
advance of the earl of Derby compelled him to raise the siege. 
In his retreat, the English, under the command of Sir Walter 
Manny, harassed his rear, made several important prisoners, and 
compelled him to change his retreat into a hurried flight. The 
earl of Derby being thus left master of the field, reduced several 
towns in the neighbourhood of Guienne, and became as formi- 
dable in the west, as his sovereign was in the east of France. 

In the battle of Crecy, King Philip was himself in immi- 
nent danger. The day had closed, he had already had one 
horse killed under him ; and now, unable to restore order to 
his routed army, and attended by only five barons and sixty 



136 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



men-at-arms, he seemed obstinately bent on continuing the 
fight. He couhl not be prevailed upon to leave the battle- 
field, till John of Hainault, seizing his bridle, earnesdy called 
to him, " Come away, sire. It is high time to withdraw," 
and in a manner led him away by force. With this small 
escort, Philip reached the chateau of Broye, where the 
drawbridge having been taken up, as the night was very 
dark, " Open — open, castellan," cried Philip, in the anguish 
of his heart, " it is the unfortunate king of France," 




Ladies of the Twelfth century 



PHILIP OF VALOIS. 



137 




A Knight of the Fourteenth Century. 



CHAPTER XV. 



PHILIP OF VALOIS CONTINUED. — JOHN. 

S. Bring up the catapults and shake the walls; 
We will not be outbraved thus. 

N. Shake the earth, 
Ye cannot shake our souls. Bring up your rams, 
And with their armed heads make the fort totter ; 
Ye do but rock us unto death. 

Beaumont. 

1. The war in Brittany presented a very extraordi- 
nary spectacle ; Charles de Blois having laid siege to ^^,j 
Roclie d'Arien, a fortress of great importance, the 
countess de Montfort sent a parly under the command of sir 
12* 



138 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Thomas Dagworth, to seek means of conveying relief to the 
garrison. As his parly was too small to attack the besieging 
army with any prospect of success, he resolved to proceed by 
stratagem, and accordingly ordered a knight named Hartwell 
to beat up the enemy's quarters, and then to retreat towards 
a defile where the rest of the forces would remain in ambush. 
Hartwell attacked the camp, but led on by youthful impetu- 
osity, instead of retreating after having given the alarm, he 
led his little troop into the midst of the hostile lines, where 
they were surrounded, and as they disdained a surrender, only 
two or three escaped. Seeing their plan defeated, the officers 
in Dagworth's detachment proposed to retreat; but he wisely 
remarked, that their success would throw the besiegers so 
much off their guard, that victory was more certain now than 
ever. After midnight, he advanced to the hostile camp, and 
found its inmates as he had anticipated, rendered secure and 
careless by their late success : a sudden attack surprised them 
so much that scarcely any resistance was made, and Charles 
de Blois remained a prisoner. 2. His wife, emulating the 
countess de Montfort, thenceforward took the command, and 
these two heroines continued to carry on the war in Brittany ; 
but although these contests were distinguished by many traits 
of individual valour, they were not productive of any event 
which produced a lasting effect. 

3. After his victory at Cre9y, Edward saw the necessity of 
securing some town which would facilitate his communica- 
tion with England, and for this purpose resolved to lay siege 
to Calais ; but before detailing the events of the siege, it may 
be as well to mention the adventures of one who performed 
there a part equally conspicous and honourable. 4. Sir Wal- 
ter Manny had been engaged in attacking the French on the 
side of Guienne ; he had performed there many actions of the 
most heroic valour, and when the siege of Aiguillon was 
raised, he had harassed severely the duke of Normandy in his 
retreat, and taken several prisoners. Soon after he heard of 
Edward's victory at Cregy, and of his intention to besiege 
Calais ; anxious to serve personally under his sovereign, he 
went to one of his captives, and proposed that instead of ran- 
som, he should procure a safe conduct for Sir Walter and 
twenty followers through France. The knight to whom the 
offer was made being a relative and favourite of the duke's, 
gladly accepted the offer, and in a short time procured the 
passport. Sir Waller proceeded through the country as far 



PHILIP OF VALOIS. 139 

as Oriean?, hxti was there arrested and sent as a prisoner to 
Paris. After being detained there for some time, Philip was 
at length prevailed on to respect his son's plighted word, and 
not only consented to the liberation of Sir Walter, but invited 
him to a royal entertainment. He then, before finally dis- 
missing him, made him several rich presents, which Sir Wal- 
ter accepted only on the condition, that his sovereign would 
consent to his retaining them. When the gallant knight ar- 
rived before the walls of Calais, Edward requested him to re- 
turn the presents of Philip, saying, " I trust, cousin, that I am 
not yet so poor, but that enough is left for me and you." Sir 
Walter immediately returned the presents by a young knight 
named Mansell to Philip ; the French king refused to receive 
back what he had once bestowed, and Mansell, who was not 
quite so scrupulous as Sir Walter, kept them himself. 

5. The siege of Calais was protracted to an unusual length ; 
at an early period the garrison turned out all useless persons 
in order to spare their provisions, and Edward, with great hu- 
manity, permitted these unfortunate beings to pass through 
his camp. But this was only a temporary relief to the de- 
fenders of the walls ; when they had been shut up more than 
a year, their provisions became quite exhausted ; but they had 
not quite lost the dauntless spirit which had enabled them so 
long to resist a victorious army, and to baffle every effort 
which the chivalrous spirit of enterprise, that so peculiarly 
characterized Edward's army, had made for their subjugation ; 
a letter which they sent to the king of France, and which 
was intercepted by Edward, will best illustrate their state and 
their feelings. 

('). " Sachez, tres-doute seigneur, que vos gentz in Caleys 
ont niangez leurs chevals, chiens, et ratz, et nest remit rien 
pour leur vivre, sinon chescun mange aultre. Par quey tres- 
honeurable seigneur, si nous ne eymes hastife succoure la 
ville est perdue ; et nous sommes toutz accordes, si nos ne 
eymes eyde, de yesser et mourir sur nos ennemis, en honneur, 
plus tost que dedens mourir par defaulte." 

" Know, dread lord, that your people in Calais have eaten 
their horses, dogs, and cats, and there is nothing left for their 
support unless they eat each other. Wherefore, honourable 
lord, if we have not hasty succour the town is lost, and we 
are all agreed if we do not receive aid, to go and die honour- 
ably over our enemies, rather than perish here by hunger." 

7. Edward transmitted this letter to Philip with an insult- 



140 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

ing message to hasten to the relief of his subjects. The 
French kuig immedialely assembled all his forces and marciied 
to raise the siege, but when he arrived before Calais, he found 
the besiegers so strongly entrenched, that he could not attack 
them with any prospect of success. In vain did he send 
heralds to Edward, offering to fight him in a fair field ; the 
challenges were treated as Philip had himself previously 
treated similar messages ; they were answered by a declara- 
tion that Edward would not relinquish the advantages of situ- 
ation. Finding all his efforts ineffectual, Philip was obliged 
to draw off all his forces the third day after his arrival. 8. 
The brave defenders of Calais had given way to the Inost en- 
thusiastic joy when they perceived from their battlements the 
banners of France waving in the distance; during the inter- 
val of delay, they endeavoured, by various devices, to de- 
scribe their calamitous condition to their countrymen ; but 
when they saw the army retreating without attempting their 
deliverance, they broke out into wild shouts of despair, tore 
down the standard of France from their rampart, hurled it 
into the ditch, and unfurled the banner of England in its stead. 
9. When Edward saw this sign of submission, he sent Sir 
Walter Manny to inform the garrison that they should sur- 
render at discretion, but was afterwards prevailed on to pro- 
mise, that if six principal burgesses were sent as an atone- 
ment for the rest, that he would spare the lives of the inha- 
bitants. 10. When this cruel message was delivered to the 
inhabitants of Calais, the whole town resounded with lamenta- 
tions. At length, Eustace St. Pierre came forward and volun- 
tarily offered himself as a victim ; this noble act of heroism 
was imitated by five others, and Sir Walter Manny led back 
the devoted band to the English camp. Edward, irritated by 
the length of the siege, and by the great losses which he had 
sustained before the place, ordered them to instant execution. 
11. Sir Walter Manny and the principal commanders in the 
English army supplicated for the lives of Eustace and his 
companions in the most moviiig terms, but Edward was im- 
placable, until his queen, Pliilippa, who had lately arrived 
from England, after having obtained a brilliant victory over 
the Scots, fell on her knees before her husband, and with 
some difiiculty procured their pardon. Calais was afterwards 
re-peopled from Englatid, and was not re-taken by the French 
until after the lapse of two centuries. 

12. During this period, several important events had oc- 



PHILIP OF VALOIS. 



141 




Q.ueen Philippa interceding for the Citizens of Calais. " 

curred in Flanders; Von Arteveld had promised Edward that 
he would procure for his son the title of count of that pro- 
vince, but the Flemings, though displeased with their prince, 
were unwilling to deprive him of his inheritance, and the 
only effect produced by the proposal was to deprive Arteveld 
of all his popularity. His enemies were not slow in taking 
advantage of this, and procured the assassination of the de- 
magogue in a popular tumult. 13. The Flemings, however, 
still adhered to the English cause, and refused to aid their 
count, who warmly supported the pretensions of Philip ; at 
length he fell on the field of Cre9y, and his subjects, on hear- 
ing the news, sent for his son from Paris. When the young 
count arrived in Flanders, the burgesses of the cities possessed 
all the real authority, and gave a strong proof of it by con- 
tracting him in marriage to Edward's daughter, without even 
asking his consent. The youthful prince, disliking the 
match, fled to the court of Philip, and was some time after 
permitted by that monarch to conclude a private truce with 
England, which pledged Flanders to a total neutrality. 
14. France was not devastated by the horrors of 
war alone, a severe famine first afflicted the people, io'^q 
and this was followed by the most terrible plague that 
had hitherto appeared in Europe. It appeared first in China, 



142 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

or, as it was then called, Cathay, and having traversed Asia 
and Greece, attacked the territories of France and Germany, 
where it literally decimated the population. 15. Religious 
fanaticism produced at the same period a new sect, called the 
Flagellants, who asserted that the anger of Heaven could only 
be averted by voluntary tortures ; they proceeded through the 
cities and country, lacerating themselves with whips, but at 
length their enthusiasm degenerated into robbery, and they 
were suppressed. 

16. The war went on but slowly after the capture of Ca- 
lais ; a truce was concluded between the rival monarchs, 
which, with little interruption, continued to the end of Piiilip's 
reign. An attempt was made to recover Calais, by bribing 
one of the commanders of the garrison, but he, after receiving 
the money, betrayed the conspiracy to Edward, who imme- 
diately went over with a reinforcement; when the French 
presented themselves before the town, instead of being ad- 
mitted, they were attacked by a numerous party which had 
been placed in ambush, and cut to pieces. 17. In the midst 
of all his misfortunes. Pliilip had the satisfaction to see the 
province of Dauphiny annexed to the crown of France. Its 
last count dying without issue, bequeathed his dominions to 

Philip, on condition that the eldest son of the French 
,o_" king should bear the title of Dauphin. Soon after, 

Philip, broken down by cares and misfortunes, died, 
leaving to his son a disunited people, and a shattered kingdom. 
18. John, duke of Normandy, succeeded his father, and 
seemed to have inherited his faults as well as his dominions. 
Philip, by illegally putting to death those whom he suspected 
of being attached to the English, had alienated the affections 
of many of his subjects, and John commenced his reign by 
a similar exhibition of crime and folly. The noblemen whom 
the king gave into the hands of the executioner, without even 
the form of trial, were his natural brother, the count of 
Marche, and the count d'Eu ; the causes of his suspicion 
furnish a curious illustration of the manners of the time, and 
are, therefore, worthy of being recorded. 19. James, count 
of Marche, while serving against the Saracens, was accused 
of treason by Visconti, a near relation of the king of Cyprus. 
The leaders of the Christian army fearing to offend either of 
the crowned heads, to whom the disputants were related, re- 
ferred the decision of the matter to Edward, king of England, 
whom they looked on as the flower of chivalry. 20. Marche 



JOHN. 143 

and Visconti having agreed to the reference, came to the Eng- 
lish court, where it was resolved that the controversy should 
be decided by judicial combat. Lists were prepared in West- 
minster, and the combat took place in presence of the king 
and a brilliant court. Both warriors were completely locked 
in steel, and wore barred visors over their face ; on this ac- 
count, the lance and sword could produce little effect. 21. 
The count de Marche, wearing gauntlets (gloves cased with 
steel) having spikes at every joint, struck his adversary back- 
handed blows on the visor, through whose bars the spikes 
could penetrate, which Visconti, whose gauntlets were plain, 
could not return. The pain of these blows at length com- 
pelled Visconti to scream, on which Edward called out '"-Ho," 
and threw down his wardour, declaring Visconti conquered 
by the laws of arms, and totally at the disposal of his adver- 
sary. 22. The count of Marche declared that he was satis- 
fied by having thus vindicated his character, and delivered 
over Visconti to the will of the prince of Wales. 23. When 
Marche returned to France, he found the king very indignant 
at his having submitted to the arbitration of Edward, the ene- 
my of their family ; he apologised by mentioning the high 
chivalrous character of Edward, in which lie was joined by 
the count d'Eu, who had been a prisoner in England. But 
the apology seemed to John a greater crime than the original 
offence ; they were both arrested and privately beheaded. 

24. Among the vassals of France was Charles, king of 
Navarre, who appears to have well deserved the epithet of the 
Bad, which is given him by all the French historians ; he had 
married one of John's daughters, and claimed as her portion 
several fiefs which, being already in the possession of others, 
it was not in the power of the crown to bestow. Suspecting 
that the constable of France had influenced the king to refuse 
his requests, Charles watched his opportunity, attacked the 
constable's residence during the night, and murdered him in 
his bed. 25. Not satisfied with this outrage, he sent a letter 
to John justifying his conduct; the weakness of his kingdom 
compelled the monarch to temporise, a mock investigation 
took place, and Charles was acquitted of guilt. But John 
only waited for an opportunity of vengeance ; he ordered his 
son to court the favour of the king of Navarre, and when 
suspicion was lulled, he arrested Charles and his principal 
friends while dining with the prince-royal. The friends of 



144 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the king of Wavarre were put to death without trial, and 
Charles himself sent a close prisoner to Paris. 

26. This treachery produced the most lamentable conse- 
quences to John ; the brother of the imprisoned king, and the 
relatives of the murdered nobleman, applied to England for 
aid in avenging their injuries, and as the truce had terminated 
some time before, the war broke out with greater fury than 
ever. 27. Edward the Black Prince, to whom his father had 
given the duchy of Guienne, assailed John on one side, while 
the earls of Derby and Lancaster, aided by the friends of 
Navarre, attacked him on the other. The Black Prince was 
his most impetuous adversary ; he overran all the provinces 
in the neighbourhood of Guienne, but as he had laid waste 
the country wherever he came, he soon found himself with 
diminished forces at a distance from all his resources, 
I'Jc^n and unable to retreat with his army through an ex- 
hausted country. 28. In this situation prince Edward, 
with only 8000 men, was overtaken by John, accompanied 
by an army of more than 60,000. 29. The ruin of the 
Prince of Wales appeared inevitable ; he took up, indeed, a 
strong position, but his army was destitute of provisions, his 
retreat cut off, and his enemies need only have remained quiet 
to ensure his destruction. The cardinal of Perigord, the pa- 
pal legate, thought that this was a favourable opportunity for 
restoring peace ; he went frequently between both armies, but 
the unreasonable demands of the French prevented all ac- 
commodation, and after a day had been wasted in useless 
negociations, both sides prepared for the memorable battle of 
Poictiers. 

c fin ^^- '^f'he prince of Wales had drawn up his little 
l^^fi ' '^^"^ "" ^ rising ground surrounded with vineyards 
and hedges ; in his front was a long and narrow 
lane, running through a thick coppice; this he lined with 
archers, and at the end of the lane in front of his cavalry and 
men-at-arms, he placed a strong body of archers, disposed in 
the form of a hearse. When the French king saw these ar- 
rangements, lie ordered all his cavalry to dismount except the 
German auxiliaries, and a body of about three hundred, whom 
he placed in the van. 31. The English archers were alvvays 
considered the best in the world, and never did they maintain 
their fame better than on this eventful day. The van of the 
French had no sooner entered the lane, than a well directed 
and close fire opened on their flanks and front, which they 



JOHN. 



145 



could neither retaliate nor avoid, so that their first line was 
defeated alojost before it reached the enemy. The charge of 
prince Edward completed their overthrow, and the cavalry 
was ordered up to their rescue ; but while they were advanc- 
ing, the English archers had gained a favourable position on 
their flanks, a cloud of arrows threw them into confusion, 
they fell back on the Germans, who in their turn, recoiled on 
the second line, and broke its ranks. 32. Edward seized the 
decisive moment to charge, and the cowardly flight of a large 
body that had been left to guard the four sons of John adding 
to the enemy's dismay, there was scarce a moment's resist- 
ance when the French were completely broken, and their 
gallant army scattered over the plain. Bitterly did they la- 
ment the fatal order that had deprived them of their horses ; 
encumbered by heavy armour, their lines broken, and their 




13 



Battle of Poictiers. 

K 



146 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

lances useless, they were trampled down by the English cav- 
alry, or swept away by the dense body of men-at-arms who 
advanced under the cover of the archers. 33. John had still 
a third division of his army under the command of himself 
and his youngest son Philip, which, being superior in number 
to the English, might have changed the fate of the day; but 
they were dispirited by the defeat of their companions ; they 
were, besides, for the most part unused to fight on foot, and 
being drawn up in close column, they presented an unerring 
mark to the archers. The English, "■mad with success and 
drunk with gore," broke this last body by one furious charge ; 
but the individual valour of John and his immediate attend- 
ants still maintained the fight. 34. The English and Gascon 
knights, who recognised his person, frequently exhorted him 
to surrender, but he refused to yield to any but his cousin, 
the Prince of Wales ; having learned, however, that he was 
in a distant part of the field, he gave his gauntlet to John de 
Morbeck, a gentleman of Artois, whom he had banished some 
years before.* John and his son Philip remained prisoners, 

* The individual heroism shoviri by an English knight in this 
battle deserves to be recorded, especially as his conduct displays 
much of that noble and generous spirit which chivalrous feeling 
frequently produced. The lord James Audley had been long a fa- 
voured friend of the Black Prince, and materially assisted him in 
making those arrangements which produced this great victory. When 
every preparation was made, he rode up to Edward, accompanied 
by his four esquires, and stated that he had made a vow to strike 
the first stroke, in whatever battle he should be engaged. Edward 
permitted him to advance with his four esquires beyond the front 
of the English lines ; he proceeded down the lane, and taking post 
under the cover of some trees, patiently awaited the approaching 
vanguard of the French. When they rushed tumultuously into the 
lane, Audley furiously attacked them, and was saved from the con- 
sequences of his hardihood by the French becoming entangled in 
the difficult ground, and disordered by the heavy showers of arrows. 
When the English charged through the disordered lines, Audley kept 
still in front, and was one of the foremost who cut through the se- 
cond line of the French. Duritig the entire fight he was the most 
conspicuous among the English chivalry, but towards the end of tlie 
day he was no longer seen in the field. When the fight was over, 
Edward earnestly inquired after his gallant friend ; he was brought 
before him, borne in the arms of his faithful esquires, covered with 
blood, and exhausted by his wounds and exertions. The prince 
complimented him on his valour, and as a reward settled on him a 
pension of 500 marks annually. No sooner was Audley carried to 



JOHN. 147 

but the greater part of the French nobility fell. Indeed, the 
slaughter was principally confined to the knights and nobles, 
owing, probably, to their having been deprived of their horses 
before the beginning of the engagement. 

35. The generous Edward treated his royal captive as his 
sovereign ; he refused to be covered or sit down in his pre- 
sence, and even attended him at supper. Afterwards, when 
he brought him over to England, John rode into London on 
a white horse, richly caparisoned with all the ensigns of 
sovereignty, while the victor attended him, mounted on a 
little black pony, as a sign of his inferiority. John was 
lodged in the palace of the Savoy, and was treated rather as a 
king than as a prisoner. 

Less respect was shown to royalty in France after this 
disaster. The dauphin, having fled from the battle-field, 
convoked the states of the kingdom, and prepared to assume 
the sovereignty in the absence of his father. The assembly, 
however, before so impracticable with John, were still more 
presuming towards the runaway from Poictiers. Before listen- 
ing to him, they demanded the liberation of the king of Na- 
varre, whose name, they considered, would serve as a rallying 
point in the great struggle for which they were preparing ; 
and they further required the imprisonment of seven of the 
principal members of the royal council. They wished a 
council of regency to be formed of their own choice, to con- 
sist of four prelates, twelve nobles, and twelve citizens. 
These concessions made, they were willing to grant a supply 
of thirty thousand men for one year. To agree to such 
terms the dauphin judged was to abdicate before assuming 
power. He broke up the assembly, and during the Christ- 
mas holidays visited the emperor, Charles IV., his maternal 
uncle. From him, however, no assistance could be obtained ; 
and, returning to Paris, the dauphin endeavoured to find a 
resource, by tampering with the money, as his father had 
done. This attempt failed. It was opposed by Stephen 
Marcel, in the name of the trades, and when the depreciated 

his tent than he serrt for his nearest friends, and in their presence 
made over the entire grant on his four esquires, to whose valour and 
fidelity he declared himself indebted both for life and honour. 
When Edward was informed of this generosity he not only con- 
firmed the former, but settled a new pension of greater amount on 
Audley, and afterwards spoke of him as the most perfect example 
of what a true knight should be. 



148 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



coin was offered in payment for commodities, no one would 
receive it. He met the regent at St. Germain d'Auxerrois, 
at the head of an armed multitude, whom he had induced to 
revolt ; and, having defended the course he had taken, at the 
close of their interview, he sent orders to the several trades 
instantly to suspend their labour, and to appear at a place 
which he indicated, under the banners of their several cor- 
porations. Charles was compelled to yield. He called in 
the new money, dismissed the counsellors proscribed by 
the states general, and convoked that body anew to meet on 
the 5th of February, 1357. 




King John riding into London. 



JOHN. 149 




King John. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

JOHN. — THE REGENCY. 

Within that land was many a malcontent, 
Who curs'd the tyranny to which he bent ; 
That soil full many a wringing despot saw, 
Who work'd his wantonness in form of law ; 
Long war without, and frequent broil within, 
Had made a path for blood and giant sin. 
That wanted but a signal to begin 
New havock, such as civil discord blends. 
Which knows no neuter, owns but foes or friends. 

Btbon. 

1. The situation of France after its monarch had 
been taken prisoner, was the most miserable that can , ^^-^ 
be conceived ; the dauphin was young and inexperi- 
enced, the officers of the crown destitute both of wisdom and 
patriotism, the nobility intent on serving themselves, the 
generals robbing friend and foe under pretence of supporting 
their troops, and the lower classes of the population, maddened 
by oppression, ready to break out into open rebellion 
When the dauphin assembled the States-general to consult 
13* 



150 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

about the state of the kingdom, he heard nothing but com 
plaints of the administration ; they refused to entrust him 
with the regency, and elected a council of fifty to take charge 
of the finances. 2. The rapacity of the new government sur- 
passed all that had preceded it ; the taxes were levied almost 
at discretion ; those who refused to pay were cruelly tortured, 
and the nation became hostile to the States-general, which 
had sanctioned these exactions, and which protected the tax- 
gatherers in hopes of sharing their plunder. This afforded 
prince Charles an opportunity of shaking off the yoke of par- 
liamentary control, which he eagerly embraced ; aided by a 
numerous body of the nobility, he expelled the council and 
assumed the reins of government. 3. But his authority was 
only nominal, every noble acted as if he were a sovereign in 
his own domains, every city became a little republic ; the 
citizens of Paris armed themselves, chose as their leader a 
merchant named Marcel, and assumed hoods of mixed red and 
blue as the badge of those who defended the privileges of the 
city. The escape of the king of Navarre from prison made 
matters still worse ; once at liberty, he recovered all his for- 
mer dominions, and became so formidable that the dauphin 
was obliged to submit to whatever terms he thought proper 
to impose. 4. He was invited to Paris, and on his arrival 
there he made a long speech to the citizens on the hardships 
which he had suffered during his imprisonment, his zeal for 
the benefit of the state, and above all his great affection for 
the city of Paris. His flatteries had so great an effect on the 
citizens, that the dauphin found himself totally destitute of 
authority, and was obliged to submit to the insults offered by 
the wearers of the variegated hoods, who had chosen the king 
of Navarre as their patron. 5. On one occasion. Marcel, the 
leader of the mob, rushed into the presence of the dauphin, 
attended by his partizans, seized on three noblemen, whom 
he asserted had given bad advice, ordered them to be massa- 
cred on the spot, and then, going up to the prince, made him 
take off his hat and put on the parti-coloured hood. 

6. While the city wa§ thus distracted by faction, a 
, .Jp-o' terrible insurrection of the peasantry broke out in the 
country, which threatened the most calamitous results. 
The nobility, who looked on their serfs as an inferior order 
of beings, treated them with the most savage cruelty ; they 
also reduced several to slavery who had purchased their free- 
dom from the king, until at length human nature could no 



JOHN. 151 

longer submit, and the peasants every where broke out into 
rebellion. They avowed their determination to exterminate 
every nobleman and gentleman, and they proceeded to exe- 
cute their resolution with the sternest ferocity. The castles 
of their oppressors were stormed, their wives and children 
ruthlessly slaughtered, every noble who fell into their hands 
was tortured for their amusement, and in fine, every horror 
that could be expected from exasperated barbarians, was per- 
petrated. 7. This rebellion was called the Jacquerie, because, 
when the nobles plundered the peasants, they called in derision 
any one that complained, Jacques hon liomme (good man 
James), not remembering that an injury, sharpened by an in- 
sult, is never forgiven or forgotten. At length the nobles of 
every parly combined to check this wide-spreading evil, in 
the suppression of which, England, France, and Navarre, 
were equally interested. The Jacquerie was suppressed, but 
the country was left a desert. 

8. Marcel was doomed to experience the truth of the asser- 
tion, that popular favour is an uncertain support; being sus- 
pected of an intention to admit the English into Paris, he was 
murdered in a popular commotion, and the crowds, who an 
hour before followed shouting in his train, saw w^ith indiffer- 
ence his body dragged through the streets and suspended from 
a gibbet. 9. The party of the king of Navarre declined after 
the death of Marcel, but that monarch was more enraged than 
discouraged at the event. He assembled a numerous army, 
and assisted by two of the Black Prince's most celebrated 
generals, the captal of Busche, and Robert Knowles, an Eng- 
lish knight, advanced to the walls of Paris ; he closely 
blockaded the city, which was badly supplied with provisions, 
and thus brought France to the very brink of ruin. 10. But 
at this moment, when destruction appeared inevitable, the 
king of Navarre suddenly offered the most favourable 
terms of peace to the dauphin, and after this unaccount- , '„' 
able change of sentiment, quietly retired to his own 
dominions. 

11. During all this time, a nominal truce continued between 
the French and English, though it was not much regarded by 
the commanders of independent companies, and negociations 
were in progress for concluding a treaty. The terras offered 
by Edward were sent over by the captive John to be submitted 
to the States-general, but they were so severe, that the as- 
sembly rejected them unanimously. 12. Edward, enraged at 



152 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

this refusal, prepared for a new invasion of France ; passing 
over to Calais with a. numerous army, he advanced through 
the country without meeting any resistance, and at length 
pitched his camp at Montlehery, within seven leagues of 
Paris. But nothing could induce the dauphin to risk, a battle, 
the calamities of Cre9y and Poictiers were too fresh in his 
memory, and he permitted sir Walter Manny and some other 
daring spirits, to ride with impunity to the very barriers of 
Paris, and reproach the chivalry of France with cowardice. 
13. The legate of the pope in vain solicited Edward to listen 
to the terms of accommodation, but a dreadful storm, which 
was believed to be a token of divine anger, proved a more 
efficacious monitor; and Edward sent to the dauphin a 
friendly invitation to appoint commissioners for finally termi- 
nating these destructive wars. 

14. Deputies from the different contending parties soon 
assembled at Bretigny, and as all were anxious for peace, the 
articles were settled within a week. It was agreed, that three 
million crowns of gold should be paid for the ransom of king 
John, one-third immediately, and the remainder secured by 
hostages; that Edward should retain Calais and all his con- 
quests in Guienne, that he should resign his claim to the 
crown of France, and that the allies on both sides should not 
be molested for the share they had taken in these wars. 15. 
As soon as the treaty was signed, John Avas brought over to 
Calais, and permitted to return to his dominions after an ab- 
sence of four years. 16. He did not, however, long enjoy 
his freedom ; his two sons, whom he had given as hostages 
to the English, broke their parole, and as they refused to re- 
turn, John considered himself bound in honour to go back 
to his prison. His friends in vain attempted to change his 
resolution, he declared that, " If honour and truth were ban- 
ished from the rest of the world, they ought still to be found 
in the bosom of kings." John returned to his old residence 
at the palace of the Savoy, then outside the walls of London, 

and was received in the most friendly manner by Ed- • 
l^fii '^^^^- l'^- While he was endeavouring to settle all 

remaining subjects of dispute with the English mon- 
arch, he was suddenly attacked by a disease which proved 
mortal in a few days. His remains were escorted to the sea- 
side by a great number of the English nobility, and after- 
wards conveyed to the cemetery of Saint Denis, the usual 
burial-place of the French monarchs. 18. A little before 



JOHN. 



153 



his return to England, the duchy of Burgundy reverted to the 
crown by the failure of heirs; and John granted it as a fief 
to his son Philip, surnamed the Hardy, who had so bravely 
fought beside his father at the battle of Poictiers; Philip soon 
after married the heiress of Flanders, and thus acquired so 
much additional power and influence, that the house of Bur- 
gundy soon became formidable rivals of the royal family of 
France. 




154 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Charles V. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



CHARLES v., SURNAMED THE WISE. 

Ill fated prince! on Crecy's glorious plain, 

Thou shouldst have fallen amid the heaps of slain ; 

And not to pale disease a helpless prey, 

Felt lingering life too slowly waste away ! Crook. 

1. Charles had shown great talents for politics during the 
regency, and his accession to the throne was hailed with joy 
by his subjects, who hoped to obtain some respite from the 
calamities with which they had been hitherto afflicted. 
Though this king never appeared at the head of his armies, 
yet it was to his prudent arrangements that they owed their 
numerous victories. He was also so fortunate as to obtain a 
general, whose skill and valour made him almost fit to be a 
rival of the Black Prince ; this was the celebrated Bertrand 
du Guesclin, a knight of Brittany, one of the brightest orna- 



CHARLES V. 155 

rnents of chivalry. 2. The king of Navarre and the duke 
of Brittany, not having been included in the treaty of Bretigny, 
continued to maintain a desultory warfare; the former prin- 
cipally relied on the valour of the captal of Buche, whom 
we have before mentioned ; but the captal being defeated and 
made prisoner by du Guesclin, Charles of Navarre found 
liimself no longer able to maintain a war against the king of 
France. Du Guesclin was next sent to support the 
cause of de Blois in Brittany, where the count de , r,'^ .' 
Montfort, aided by the talents of the English general, 
lord Chandos, had recovered most of his paternal possessions. 
In this expedition du Guesclin was in his turn defeated and 
made prisoner ; but Charles turned even this misfortune to 
advantage, for when he learned that de Blois was killed in 
the battle, he put an end to the war by acknowledging Mont- 
fort as duke of Brittany, provided that he would hold the 
duchy as a vassal of France. By thus availing himself equally 
of victory and defeat, Charles was enabled to make peace 
with the sovereigns of Navarre and Brittany, and to obtain 
an opportunity for consolidating the strength of his kingdom, 
previous to his intended plan of re-conquering the provinces 
which had been wrested from France by the English. 

3. France, however, was still laid waste by other enemies; 
a great number of military adventurers, whose only trade was 
war, had formed themselves into troops under different 
leaders, and supported themselves by levying heavy contri- 
butions on those parts of the country which they thought fit 
to visit. These banditti, whom the English called _/ree-coffi- 
panies, and the French malandrins^ were too numerous and 
formidable to be subdued by force, when it was attempted by 
James de Bourbon, a prince of the royal blood ; he 
was defeated with great loss, and the companies be- , „'^_' 
came in consequence worse than ever. 4. But a for- 
tunate circumstance soon enabled Charles to get rid of these 
robbers, and at the same time to render an essential service 
to one of his most valuable allies. 

Peter I. king of Castile, surnamed the Cruel^ on his acces- 
sion to the throne, had treacherously mui-dered his father's 
mistress, and by similar tyrannical deeds, had provoked the 
hostility of all his subjects ; Henry, count Transtamora, his 
natural brother, resolved to avenge the wrongs of his mother 
and his country. But not being able to compete with his 
brother unaided, he sought the assistance of the king of 



156 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



France, already irritated against Peter on account of his 
cruelty to his queen, a princess of the Bourbon branch of the 
royal family. On his arrival in France, Henry requested per- 
mission to take the companies into his pay ; his request was 
cheerfully granted, and du Guesclin undertook to be their 
leader. He met the commanders of most of the bands, and 
set before them the great advantages of the expedition, ex- 
horting them by every religious motive to atone for their own 
sins by punishing the impious Peter, who had been lately put 

under the ban of the church. 
5. The free companies had 
been lately excommunicated 
themselves, and were eager to 
obtain absolution ; the means, 
which under the guidance of 
du Guesclin they took to ob- 
tain it, give us a very strange 
picture of the times. Advanc- 
ing under his guidance towards 
Avignon, where the pope re- 
sided, they threatened the pon- 
tiff and his court, unless they 
obtained the pardon of their 
sins, and a large contribution 
besides. The pope hesitated 
about complying with the lat- 
ter part of their requisition, but 
the companies soon showed 
such a determination to enforce 
their demands, that his holiness 
was obliged to comply ; and 
the adventurers having thus obtained absolution and money, 
declared themselves ready to follow du Guesclin into Spain. 
6. Peter, deserted by his subjects, was unable to 
,op~ meet Henry in the field, and seeing no other means of 
' safety, he fled across the Pyrenees to the prince of 
Wales, who was then in Guienne, seeking from him protec- 
tion and assistance. 7. Edward, who envied the glory of 
Guesclin, unhesitatingly adopted the cause of Peter, and im- 
mediately led his army into Castile. At his approach, the 
" troops of the free companies," who almost adored the Black 
Prince, at once flocked to his banner ; Henry was obliged to 
confide in the undisciplined forces of his own kingdom, and 




Bertrand du Guesclin. 



CHARLES V. 157 

these were unable to meet warriors who had been so long 
inured to battles. 8. At Najara, Henry was totally defeated, 
and du Guesclin taken prisoner. But the prince of Wales 
had no reason to rejoice in his victory; Peter refused to pay 
the expenses of the war, a fearful sickness broke out in the 
English camp, and Edward was obliged to retrace his steps, 
after having exhausted his funds, wasted his men, and irre- 
trievably injured his constitution. He liberated du Guesclin, 
who again joined Henry in an invasion of Castile, when Peter 
was defeated and slain. 

9. The prince of Wales had exhausted all his revenues in 
the Castilian expedition ; on his return, he levied a tax on 
the provinces, which they refused to pay, and appealed to the 
king of France as their feudal sovereign. Charles 
received the appeal, and summoned Edward to appear iq"f.q 
in Paris and answer for his conduct. The prince of 
Wales refused to obey ; in consequence of which, Charles 
declared that he had forfeited all the provinces that he held 
under the crown of France. 10. The war on this broke out 
afresh, and the English were every where unsuccessful. Their 
armies indeed laid waste the country and ravaged the fields 
as far as the gates of Paris, but the towns opened their gates 
to the troops of France ; the peasantry concealed their provi- 
sions when Edward appeared, but readily yielded up their 
stores to the soldiers of Cliarles, and thus every victorious 
march became a real source of weakness. 11. Du Guesclin, 
who had been appointed constable of France, had been the 
first to suggest this harassing mode of warfare, and to him 
the management of it was entrusted. 12. At length, after 
having captured Limoges, Edward found himself so com- 
pletely enervated by disease, that he was compelled to return 
to England, and though he lived three years longer, the state 
of his health prevented him from again seemg the theatre of 
his glory.* 

* The premature decease of the Prince of Wales was looked 
upon by the English people as the greatest national calamity. His 
death is thought to have shortened the days of his royal father, and 
broke the heart of that renowned warrior, John de Grielly, captal 
de Buche, who refused all nourishment, and was impatient to follow 
his beloved master to the grave. The parliament, though in no very 
good humour, discovered the deepest concern for his death, and the 
highest veneration for his memory, by attending his remains to the 
cathedral of Canterbury, and by petitioning the king to introduce 

14 



158 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

13. When the Black Prince returned home, the English in 
France were overwhelmed by a long succession of misfor- 
tunes ; the leaders of several companies who had been per- 
sonally attached to Edward, when he was no longer present 
joined du Guesclin : their fleet, under the earl of 

AD • 

, .j-.-J Pembroke, was defeated by the Spaniards; the king 
of Navarre withdrew from their alliance ; the captal 
of Buche fell into the hands of the French ; and finally, a 
fleet which had been prepared for the relief of some towns 
that were besieged, was prevented from sailing by stormy 
weather until the towns had surrendered. 14. Du Guesclin 
died in the midst of his brilliant career, just after he had 
signed the capitulation of the fortress of Auvergne, which he 
was besieging. When the garrison heard of his death, they 
desired the governor to refuse a surrender, but he, faithful to 
his promise, brought the keys of the garrison, and laid them 
as a trophy at the feet of the departed hero. 

15. During this period, war had been re-kindled in Brittany 
by the French king's attempt to annex that province com- 
pletely to the French crown ; but de Montfort, supported 
by the people, was enabled to maintain his duchy, and Charles 
seemed to be aware of the injustice of his attempt; for after 
his first vigorous efforts were defeated, he allowed the war to 
linger for a great length of time. Eventually, de Montfort, 
by the aid of the English, recovered all his dominions ; and 
Charles directed his attention to the more honourable and 
useful task of driving the English from their remaining pos- 
sessions in Guienne. 

16. The glories which had adorned the com- 

,rv'«-.' mencement of the reign of Edward III. were now 
vanished, he was broken down by misfortunes, and 
grief for the death of his gallant son " brought down his 
grey hairs with sorrow to the grave." His successor, Richard 
II., was a minor; the devastation of England by a pestilence, 
and the incursions of the Scots in the commencement of his 
reign, so weakened a government already distracted by the 
jealousies of the king's uncles, that no succour was sent to 
the English in France. 17. In a very short time Charles so 
improved his advantages, that out of all their brilliant acqui- 
sitions, there only remained in the possession of the English, 

the prince's only son, Ricliard, then only ten years old, into their 
assembly, that they might have the pleasure of beholding this only 
representative of their beloved prince. 



CHARLES V. 159 

Calais in Artois, Cherburg in Normandy, and Bordeaux in 
Guienne. 

18. Charles of Navarre had attempted to poison 

the king of France while he was yet dauphin, he re- , ' ^* 
newed the attempt after the expulsion of the English, 
dreading that the increased power of the king would be di- 
rected against his dominions. To effect this detestable design, 
he sent his son with several attendants on an embassy to 
Paris, but the meditated treachery was discovered; two knights 
who were charged with its execution were put to death, and 
the prince of Navarre, who seems not to have participated in 
his father's treason, was shut up in prison. 

19. The king of France had long been wasting 
away; it was said that he never recovered the effects -.oon 
of the poison that had been administered in his youth, 
however the physicians kept him alive by opening an issue, 
declaring that when that dried up his case would be hopeless. 
When it did cease, Charles prepared himself for death with 
becoming fortitude, and in his last moments employed him- 
self in directing his sons to persevere in the paths of justice 
and rectitude. 

20. Charles appears to have merited the name of Wise, 
which has been given him by the French writers ; the state 
of France in the beginning and end of his reign is the noblest 
testimony to his character ; on his accession, he found the 
throne tottering, the people distracted, the best provinces in 
the possession of the enemy, and the country almost a desert ; 
to his son he bequeathed a peaceful succession, a rich treasure, 
and, above all, subjects thriving and contented. How few 
princes merit such an eulogy ! 

Charles the Sage, " the ruling passion, strong in death," 
was seen faithful in his last moments to the habits of his 
former life. On the day of his departure, he dictated to the 
lawyers in attendance, on ordinance by which certain im- 
posts were in part abolished. The following epitaph was 
placed on his tomb at St. Denis : — " Here lies Charles V., 
wise and eloquent, the son of King John, who reigned six- 
teen years, five months, and seven days, and died in the 
year of grace, 1380, the 16th day of September." 

This king, whose dying vi^ords fell on the ear of a town 
clerk, and who was the first to fly from the field of Poictiers, 
nevertheless governed triumphantly in this age of chivalry. 
It is most remarkable, that all the mighty changes of his 



160 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



reign were effected in his closet, consulting with Bureau 
de Riviere, and looking from the windows of his hotel St. 
Paul. 




CHARLES VI. 



161 




Charles VI. 

CHAPTER XYIir. 

CHARLES VI. 



Unhappy king! even by thy pomp opprest. 
Like some rnde clown for royal pageant drest^ 
Who struts his hour of borrowed state, and then 
Stripped of his robes to nothing sinks again — 
How poor, how less than little art thou grown, 
Mean in all eyes, and meanest in thine own. 

Miss Porden. 

L The last reign was short and prosperous, that on 
which we are about to enter was long and calamitous ; , .-."J 
the ambition of the young king's uncles, the licen- 
tiousness of the nobles, the madness of the king, the crimin- 
alities of his wife, and a new invasion of the English, pro- 
duced a series of miseries, if possible worse than any we 
have hitherto narrated. Charles VI. was but thirteen years 
old at the time of his father's death, the regency was entrusted 
to his uncle the duke of Anjou, but the dukes of Burgundy 
14* L 



162 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

iuid Bourbon were jealous of his authority, and anxiously 
endeavoured to obtain a share in the government. For this 
purpose they compelled the regent to consent to the king's 
coronation, after which the States declared that Charles shoidd 
himself assume the administration of affairs, and be guided by 
the counsels of his uncles. 

2. Joanna, queen of Naples, having been driven from the 
throne by her cousin Charles Durazzo, had in revenge adopted 
the duke of Anjou as her heir, and soon after falling into the 
hands of her enemies, was strangled in prison. The duke 
of Anjou then resolved to assert his claim to the Neapohlan 
crown, and in order to obtain forces, he resolved to seize on 
the royal treasures which had been collected bv the late mon- 
arch. These were concealed in the castle of Melun, and the 
secret of the place where they were deposited entrusted to a 
confidential servant named Savoisy. The (hike prevailed on 
him to betray his trust, and having thus provided himself with 
funds, he levied an army, and led them across the Alps into 
Italy. 3. This expedition was singularly unfortunate, a few 
successes in the beginning were followed by such a rapid suc- 
cession of reverses, that in a few months the duke of Anjou 
saw his baggage lost, his army destroyed, and himself re- 
duced to such poverty, that of all his ill-gotten wealth, only 
a single silver goblet was left. He died soon after of vexa- 
tion and disappointment, leaving his son Louis the inheritor 
of his pretensions. 

4. This fruitless attempt proved the source of many cala- 
mities to France ; a promise had been made to the people that 
they should be released from some of the severe taxes which 
had been levied during the last reign ; but as the royal trea- 
sures were exhausted, instead of decreasing their burdens, the 
king found himself compelled to redouble the imposts, and 
thus produced universal dissatisfaction through the country. 
5. The Flemings, for similar reasons, had revolted against 
their count; he appealed to the king of France for assistance 
as his feudal sovereiafu, and through the influence of 

A. D. • • 

- ■ ■ his son-in-law, the duke of Burgundy, who had suc- 
ceeded the duke of Anjou in the management of affairs, 
his request was readily granted. 6. Charles headed the army 
in person, a decisive battle was fought at Rosbec, in which 
the Flemings were defeated, and their leader, Arteveld, son to 
the former demagogue of the same name, slain. 7. Having 
^.liumphpd over the insurgents in Flanders, Charles resolved 



CHARLES VI. 



16^^ 







it.^ " 



Battle of Rosbec. 

to punish those in his own dominions, uhp, oppressed by a 
load of taxes, had been induced to commit several excesses. 
On his approach to Paris, the citizens went armed to meet 
him, lioping by this display of strength to inspire the monarch 
with fear. But they did at once too much and too little, — 
they convinced him that thev were formidable subjects, but, 
by dispersing on the first summons, they left themselves and 
their city totally at his mercy. Charles entered Paris as a 
place which had been conquered; he dismantled its fortifica- 
tions, broke down its gates and barriers, disarmed the inhabit- 
ants, and, without any form of trial, put to death more than 
three hundred of the factious by the gibbet, or by tying them 
up in sacks and throwing them into the river. 

8. Having thus filled the city with terror, Charles sum- 
moned all the citizens of both sexes to a public assembly in 
the courts of the palace. There they were received by the 
king seated on his throne, and addressed on the subject of 
their manifold treasons by the Chancellor d''Orgemont, in 
terms so harsh and threatening, that the whole assembly ex- 
pecting nothing but instant death, threw themselves on their 
knees, and earnestly supplicated for mercy. The dukes of 
Berry and Burgimdy united in the petition, untiT at length 
Charles, as if moved with compassion, declared that he would 



164 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

substitute civil for criminal punishment; in other words, that 
he would commit robbery instead of murder. 9. The end of 
this " tragic farce," as the French call it, was, that the Paris- 
ians were obliged to pay more than half their wealth in fines, 
and that the taxes were levied with greater severity than ever. 

10. The duke of Burgundy, on the death of his father-in- 
law, had become count of Flanders, and endeavoured to con- 
ciliate his new subjects, whom commercial wealth had ren- 
dered haughty and turbulent. The greater part of the trade 
of Europe at this time centered in the Low Countries. Bruges 
especially was the depot of commerce ; the treasures of the 
east were brought thither from Italy by the Lombard mer- 
chants, and exchanged for the less costly, but more useful 
productions of northern and western Europe. Their manu- 
factories, especially of woollen, were unrivalled ; and the 
wealth which they acquired by their trade had given them a 
consequence and importance which made them proud and 
others jealous. 

11. Through the influence of the duke of Bur- 

i^Qp; g'^^^y? Charles was married to Isabella of Bavaria, a 

princess remarkable for her personal qualifications, 

and for every bad disposition which could render her charms 

pernicious. She brought innumerable misfortunes on her 

husband, her family, and the whole kingdom. 

12. Under the weak and despicable government of Richard 
II., England had lost her former eminence, and the French, 
eager to revenge the calamities that had been inflicted on 
them by Edward III., resolved to invade that country. A 
great naval force was collected at Sluys, every vessel that 
could be purchased or hired between Sweden and Flanders 
was collected, and a huge wooden castle was constructed to 
be towed across the channel, an invention from which great 
advantages were anticipated. 13. But all these mighty pre- 
parations were rendered unavailing by the jealousy of the 
duke of Berry ; unwilling that an expedition planned by his 
rival Burgundy should succeed, he detained the fleet at Sluys 
until the sea was no longer navigable; the stormy season 
came on, a great part of the armament was destroyed, and the 
wooden castle floating out to sea, fell into the hands of the 
English mariners. The project of an invasion was renewed 
in each of the two succeeding years, and was similarly de- 
feated by the mutual quarrels of the king's uncles and the 
great nobles. 



CHARLES VI. 



165 




Philip tlie Bold, John the Fearless, and Philip the Good, Dukes of Burgundy 



1386. 



14. During this period of ineffectual preparation, 
an instance occurred of tlie vengeance that overtakes 
the guilty even in this life. Charles the Bad, king of 
Navarre, found at length a death worthy of his crimes. Worn 
out by debauchery, he endeavoured to restore vital heat to his 
limbs by wrapping himself in sheets soaked in spirits ; by 
some accident these took fire; before any assistance could be 
obtained, the fire had reached his vitals ; he lingered for a few 
days in the most excruciating agonies, and at length expired, 
to the great joy of every party by whom his secret treach- 
eries were equally feared and detested. 

15. When Charles had arrived at the age of man- 
hood, he became jealous of the power wielded by his . ' J 
uncle, the duke of Burgundy, and determined to take 

the administration of affairs into his own hands. The duke, 
with a very bad grace, resigned the delegated authority, and 
had the mortification to see all his friends at once stripped of 
their offices, and their places supplied by the creatures of the 
duke of Orleans, the king's brother and most favoured adviser. 
16. Oliver de Clisson, who had worthily succeeded du Gues- 
clin in the office of constable, was the president of the king's 
council, and under his guidance affairs began to assume an 
aspect of tranquillity. But de Clisson had, by some ambi- 
tious projects, provoked the hostility of the duke of Brittany, 
a prince long suspected by the French court, on account of 



166 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

tlie former connection between the Montforts and the English. 
A nobleman of infamous character, named deCraon, attempted 
to assassinate the constable in the streets of Paris, and be- 
lieving that he had been successful, fled for safety to the 
count of Brittany. The protection given him by the duke 
aflxirded some ground of presumption that he had been the 
original instigator of the crime. De Clisson, who had been 
only wounded, called loudly for redress, and Charles, ever 
rash and impetuous, without waiting to make any inquiries, 
levied an army, and hastily marched towards Brittany. 

17. On a very hot day in tlie month of August, 

I^'q2 ^'^^ ^^"S' wearing on his head a heavy cap of scarlet 
cloth, rode apart from his company, attended only 
by two pages. Weakened by the debaucheries of youth, and 
oppressed by a cumbrous dress, he passed slowly on, almost 
fainting beneath the rays of a sultry sun. Suddenly a tall 
spectre-like figure in black sprung from a neighbouring thicket, 
seized the king's bridle, and exclaimed, " Stop, king, whither 
are you going ? you are betrayed." Having said these few 
words, he again disappeared among the trees. Nearly at the 
same time, one of the pages, whom the overpowering heat 
had inclined to slumber, let his lance fall against the helmet 
of his companion. This sudden clash of arms, combining 
with the recent warning, was too powerful for the mind of 
the unhappy monarch; in a moment he became raging mad, 
and drawing his sword, fell furiously on his servants. 18. 
With great difficulty he was overpowered and secured; his 
attendants fastened him with ropes on a cart, and in this 
piteous state he was conveyed to the nearest town. His uncles 
had him brought to Paris, and took on themselves the admi- 
nistration of affairs for some months; but on the king's reco- 
very, the duke of Orleans again recovered his power, and thus 
commenced the hostility between the factions of Orleans and 
Burgundy, which had nearly caused the utter ruin of the 
nation. 

19. A strange accident soon after caused a return 

,o'nq of the king's malady. At the marriage of one of the 
■ queen's attendants, the king and five young nobles re- 
solved to appear in the character of savages ; for this purpose 
they prepared dresses of coarse cloth, smeared with pitch, 
and then sprinkled over with loose flax. When they entered 
the saloon, the duke of Orleans took a torch to examine 
their dresses more closely ; a spark fell on the flax, it imme 



CHARLES VI. 167 

fliately burst into flames, and a scene of indescribable confu- 
sion ensued ; four of the masques were burnt to death, a fifth 
escaped by plunging into a cistern of water : the king was 
saved by the presence of mind of the duchess of Berri, who 
threw a cloak over him, and kept him in a corner of the 
apartment until the flames were extinguished. This horrid 
scene produced a second fit of insanity, which, with a few 
lucid intervals, lasted during the rest of the king's unfortunate 
life; prayers were offered up, and processions made, medicine 
and magic were both tried, but all the remedies that the wis- 
dom of the age could suggest were equally inefficacious. 
20. In one of the king's lucid intervals, a success- 

• • -AD 

ful attempt was made to reconcile for a time the dif- . ' ' 
ferences between France and England ; the sovereigns 
of both met near Calais, and agreed on a truce ; in con- 
sequence, Richard married the daughter of Charles, and re- 
signed the towns of Brest and Cherburg. 21. An unfortunate 
event for the English monarch, as it increased the discontents 
among his subjects, who justly dreaded that these ports would 
again become nests of privateers, and harass the English trade. 
22. The dukes of Orleans and Burgundy continued to con- 
tend for the supreme power, and their contests kept the court 
and the kingdom in constant agitation. The disputes of their 
wives aggravated their mutual haired : the duchess of Bur- 
gundy, proud of her illustrious descent and immense wealth, 
looked down with contempt on Valentina of Orleans ; she, 
in her turn, confiding in her beauty and accomplishments, 
ridiculed the person of her haughty rival. The duchess of 
Orleans was universally esteemed one of the most charming 
women of the time ; she had so much influence over Charles, 
even in the most violent of his paroxysms, that her 
enemies attributed her power to magic. A truce of |/,-,q 
twenty-eight years had been concluded with the Eng- 
lish, when the aid of the French was solicited by Sigismond, 
king of Hungary, against the redoubtable Bajazel, the Turkish 
sultan, and the count de Nevers, John sans Peur, (John the 
Fearless,) son of tf\e duke of Burgundy, led a numerous 
army to his relief This force was defeated beneath the walls 
of Nicopolis, and the flower of the warriors of France were 
slain or made prisoners on that fatal day. The count de 
Nevers was ransomed by the people of Burgundy for two 
hundred thousand crowns. At length the death of the duke 
of Burgundy, in 1404, seemed to have secured the triumph 



168 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




John the Fearless before Nicopolis. 



of Orleans, but he found the son and successor of his rival a 
still more formidable enemy than the father had been. 23. 
The queen was a warm partizan of the Orleans' party, she 
was indeed more than suspected of having carried her attach- 
ment to the duke beyond the bounds of innocence, and it is 
questionable whether she did him more service by the aid 
she afforded, or injury by the hostility which her crimes pro- 
voked. Her conduct as a mother and wife was infamous ; the 
tutor of her children was unable to procure the common ne- 
cessaries of life for his charge, and when complaints were 
made to the wretched Charles, he replied, "Alas! I am not 
better treated." In fact, it appeared that he had passed 
five months without a bed or a change of linen. 24. 
After the kingdom had been long distracted by the 
contending factions, an apparent reconciliation was effected 
between the rivals; the duke of Burgundy feigned a more 
than ordinary affection for his cousin of Orleans, lamented 



A. D. 

1407. 



CHARLES VI. 169 

the length of time that they had been disunited, and appeared 
anxious to drown the memory of former hostilities by con- 
tinued marks of favour and kindness. But all this was pre- 
paratory to an act of execrable treachery. While the duke 
of Orleans was going one night to visit the queen, he was 
suddenly attacked by assassins, whom his rival had hired, and 
cruelly murdered. 

25. After this horrid deed, the duke of Burgundy fled to 
his estates, and the widow of the deceased prince came to 
Paris, accompanied by her three cliildren, to claim vengeance. 
The duke of Burgundy was, however, a criminal too power- 
ful to be punished. When summoned to take his trial, he 
appeared at the head of an army ; a monk whom he had hired, 
pleaded his cause before the council, but his soldiers were ar- 
guments still more powerful; he was acquitted and restored 
to all his former authority. 

26. The young duke of Orleans had married the daughter 
of the count d'Armagnac, one of the most powerful nobles 
of Gascony, and as he gave himself up entirely to the direc- 
tions of his father-in-law, the partizans of Orleans were for 
the future called Armagnacs. At first they were reduced to 
the very brink of ruin by the Burgundians, whose party was 
warmly embraced by the populace of Paris ; the duke 

of Burgundy, by his immoderate use of victory, pro- i /iV 
voked the iiostility of the nobles, and was compelled 
to give way in his turn. He fled to his estates, a royal army 
marched against him, and he was obliged to purchase peace 
on the most humiliating conditions. 

This period of history is remarkable for the great schism 
in the church of Rome. It began in 1377, when Pope Gre- 
gory XI. removed the papal see from Avignon back to Rome. 
He died in the following year, and after his death there was 
a great schism among the cardinals, who could not agree in 
the choice of a new pontifT. Those who were in the inte- 
rests of Rome wished to elect a pope who would remain at 
Rome ; while, on the contrary, those who were in the inte- 
rests of France, wished to bring back the papal see to Avig- 
non, As the two parlies could not agree in naming tlie 
same pope, they both chose one of their own, so that there 
were two popes. This schism lasted forty years, and caused 
continual disturbances throughout Italy. At last there were 
three popes all at one time, John XXIIl., Gregory XII., and 
Benedict XIII. The emperor Sigismond, who was very 



170 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



anxious to restore the peace of Italy, obliged John, much 
against his will, to summon a council at Constance, for the 
three purposes of terminating the schism, of reforming the 
church, and of extirpating heresy. This council met on 
the feast of All Saints, 1414, and the emperor compelled 
John to make a public declaration, that he would resign his 
dignity, provided his two rivals would do the same. John, 
however, had no intention of keeping his word, but he dis- 
simulated for fear of the emperor, who kept him as a kind of 
prisoner. He now bitterly repented having come to Con- 
stance, and resolved to get away as soon as he could. But 
this, as the town was full of Sigismond's partisans, was 
no easy matter. At last, the duke of Austria, who was 
his friend, contrived to favour his escape, by proclaiming a 
tournament, during the bustle of which the pope got away 
in the disguise of a postilion. The emperor was very angry 
with the duke of Austria for assisting John in his escape; 
he laid him under the ban of the empire, and would forgive 
him only on condition that he gave up the fugitive pope. 
John was suspended from his pontifical powers, and im- 
prisoned for about three years at Heidleberg, at the end of 
which time he was released on his consenting to acknowledge 
Martin V., who had been elected pope by the members of 
the council. Thus in 1417 an end was happily put to the 
schism which had so long embroiled Italy, and the more 
happily, because Martin was a peace-making good man. 




Ladies of the Fifteenth century. 



CHAllf.-ES VI. 



171 




Knighl of the Fifteenth Century, in fall Armour. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



CHARLES VI.— HENRY V. OF ENGLAND. 

Hadst thou seen, 
Skilful as brave, how Henry's ready eye 
Lost not a thicket, nor a hillock's aid, 
From his hersed bowman, how the arrows flew, 
Thick as the snow flakes, and with lishtning force, 
Thou wouldst have known, such soldiers, such a chief. 
Could never be subdued. Socthey^ 

1. While the Armagnacs and Burgundians were 
exhausting themselves and their country by their , /.J 
bloody contests, the English were preparing to renew 



172 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the glories of Edward, and make a second effort for the sub- 
jugation of France. The reign of Richard II. had been too 
weak, and that of the usurper Henry IV. too turbulent, for 
any attempts at so great an enterprise; but on the accession 
of Henry V. the whole English nation so passionately cla- 
moured for an invasion of France, that Henry would pro- 
bably have endangered his throne had he hesitated to com- 
ply. With no better excuse than the almost forgotten pre- 
tensions of Edward II f. he published a declaration of war, 
and passing over into Normandy, laid siege to Harfleur. 2. 
The garrison made an obstinate defence for several months, 
but at length their provisions were exhausted ; their suppli- 
cations for assistance were disregarded by the government, 
and they were forced to surrender at discretion. 3. From 
Harfleur, Henry advanced through Normandy towards Calais, 
meeting with little or no resistance, but the heat of the wea- 
ther and the quantities of rich fruits eaten by the soldiers, 
produced a pestilence in his camp, by which numbers of his 
soldiers were destroyed, and the rest greatly weakened. 
O t 94 ^" ■'" ^^^^ calamitous situation, Henry was over- 
, '. ^ ' taken by the constable d'Albret, with an array eight 
times more numerous than his own, on the plains 
of Azincourt. It was late in the evening when the two 
armies came in sight of each other, and the engagement was 
consequently deferred to the following day. On the side of 
the French, there was confidence in strength and numbers, 
" they jested," says an old historian, " at those scarecrows of 
English who could scarcely sit on their famished horses." 
5. Notwithstanding the disparity of forces, two anecdotes 
will serve to convince us that the English and their gallant 
sovereign were not totally destitute of hope. Henry sent a 
Welsh captain named David Gam, to bring him some account 
of the number of the French, and David returned with the 
following report, "May it please your majesty, there are 
enough to be killed, enough to be taken, and enough to run 
away." When Henry heard his brother wish for more men, 
he said, "• I would not desire another : if we are to fall, I wish 
not that the loss of our country should be increased ; if we 
are to win, the fewer that share our glory the better." 6. 
The morning of St. Crispin's day saw both armies prepared 
for the battle. The fight, though the odds were so unequal, 
was not long maintained by the French, they were defeated, 
as at Cre9y and Poictiers, by the heavy fire of the archers. 



CHARLES VI. 



173 




The Duke of Orleans, taken Prisoner at Azincourt. 



which drove their cavalry back on the infantry, and mingled 
both in remediless confusion. 7. The Duke of Orleans was 
one of the prisoners taken by the English. But the victori- 
ous army was unable to maintain its conquests ; sickness and 
the climate were enemies not to be resisted, and Henry hav- 
ing with difficulty brought his shattered bands to Calais, re- 
turned home. 

8. It would have been naturally supposed, that the pre- 
sence of a public enemy would have checked the private dis- 
sensions of France ; but on the contrary, they seem rather to 
have become worse in consequence. The two eldest sons 
of the king having died within a very short space, Charles, a 
sworn enemy to the house of Burgundy, succeeded to the 
title of Dauphin, and united himself in strict alliance with 
d'Armagnac, who on the death of d'Albret, had been ap- 
pointed constable of France. The queen was the only per- 
son whose authority could counterbalance the weight of this 
party, and the constable resolved to remove her from his 
path. As she lived in the practice of open and avowed 
licentiousness, it was not difficult to find a pretence for put- 
ting her under arrest; one of h6r paramours was seized, con- 
victed, and drowned, and she was sent as a prisoner to 
Tours. Thenceforward she was animated with the most im- 
placable hatred against the constable, and against the daupliin 
her own son, whom, though only sixteen years old, she de- 
tested for having assented to her degradation. 
15* 



171 



HISTORY OF FIIANCE. 




Heary V. of England. 

9. The imprisonment of the queen, the iiniiappy 
1 /, ' death of two dauphins, the deprivation of a great num- 
ber of officers, the pillage of the open country by the 
unpaid soldiery, and the depredations of the Armagnaes, who 
even took the plate out of the churches, afforded the duke of 
Burgundy pretexts sufficiently specious for renewing the war, 
under pretence of liberating the king, and tranquillizing the 
nation. At the request of the queen he came to Tours and 
rescued her from captivity ; thence he proceeded to Troyes, 
where the queen proclaimed herself regent, summoned an as- 
sembly of the states, and had a great seal made, on wliich 
her own figure was engraved. 10. In so favourable a con- 
juncture the English monarch was not remiss, he invaded 
Normandy a second time, and soon made himself master of 
the greater part of that province. And yet the constable was 
contented to see France dismembered by the English, rather 
ihan hazard its being governed by his enemy. 1 1. The citi- 
zens of Paris were become weary of a domestic war which 



CHARLES VI. 175 

exhausted all their resources ; they had not forgotten their 
former attachment to the house of Burgundy, and the Armag- 
nacs had on many occasions violated the privileges of the 
city ; for these reasons when I'Isle Adam, a partisan of the 
duke, appeared in the streets shouting, " Peace and Burgundy," 
he was immediately joined by such a numerous body of the 
citizens, that it was impossible for his enemies to make any 
resistance. 12. But the cry of peace was treacherous and 
delusive, a cruel slaughter of the Armagnac party commenced ; 
nor was it confined to them, every man that had a personal 
enemy was designated an Armagnac, and the name at once 
procured him to be murdered. The dauphin was saved with 
difficulty by a faithful friend; but the count d'Armagnac, and 
the ministers of the crown, remained prisoners with an infu- 
riate mob, who knew not the name of mercy.* They vvere 
all cruelly put to death, and with bitter mockery, the erect^ or 
St. George's cross, was cut on their bodies, for that was the 
symbol of the Armagnacs, as the oblique^ or St. Andrew's, 
was of the Burgundians. 

13. The flight of the dauphin was the signal for civil war 
in every part of France \ while the English taking advantage 
of these dissensions, steadily pursued their career of victory, 
and subdued town after town without meeting any 
effective resistance. At length the duke of Burgundy i /iq* 
made proposals to the dauphin for an accommodation, 
it was agreed that they should meet on the bridge of Monte- 
reau, and a barrier was erected on it to protect both from the 
hostility of their mutual followers. Some friends of the 
murdered duke of Orleans took this opportunity to revenge 
his death ; leaping over the barrier in the midst of the confer- 
ence, they fell on the duke of Burgundy and slew him. It is 
uncertain whether the dauphin had any share in this treach- 
erous transaction, but its consequences nearly proved fatal to 
him and to his followers. 14. Philip, son of the murdered 
duke, assembled a numerous army, the queen joined him with 
her forces, and a peace was concluded with England, by which 

* Tliese excesses, we are told by the old historians, were followed 
by the most brilliant processions ever seen. The murderers sought 
to palliate their crimes by associating them with religious ceremo- 
nies. The scarcity occasioned by the pillage and conflagrations in 
the environs of Paris, was followed by a contagious disease, which 
made such dreadful ravages, that, in the space of five weeks, fifty 
thousand of the citizens died. 



176 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



it was stipulated that Henry V. should marry Catharine, the 
daughter of the French king, that he should be appointed re- 
gent during the life of Charles VI., that then the crown of 
France should devolve on Henry and his successors, and that 
no peace should be made with the dauphin without the con- 
sent of the two kings, the duke of Burgundy, and the three 
estates of the realm. 




Catharine, Wife of Henry V. of England. 

15. When this treaty had been completed, Henry 
1 42(1 ^^^ Charles proceeded together towards Paris, where 
the duke of Burgundy appeared before the council, 
and entered an accusation in form against the dauphin for the 
murder of his father. After the absent prince had been re- 
gularly summoned, sentence of confiscation and banishment 
was pronounced against him, and the succession of Henry 
formally recognized by the parliament and the council. 16. 
The following year, during Henry's absence in England, his 
army, under the command of his brother the duke of Clarence, 
was attacked by the dauphin's soldiers, under the guidance 



CHARLES VI. 177 

of the earl of Buchan, a Scotch nobleman, while besieging- 
Beange in Anjou. In this engagement the English were de- 
feated and their general slain. 17. When the news reached 
Henry, he passed over into France with a fresh arm)'-, and 
used every exertion in his power to provoke the dauphin to 
come to an engagement ; but that prince was too wise to 
hazard a battle, and the English monarch, after having ex- 
hausted his soldiers by long and fatiguing marches, gave up 
the pursuit and returned to Paris. 18. A little before this, 
his queen had been delivered of a son, to whom the 
name of his father was given. Henry made his tri- i^,y.^ 
umphant entry into Paris on the day of Pentecost, 
but did not long enjoy his tranquillity ; having learned that 
the dauphin meditated some fresh enterprises he marched 
against him, but on the road was seized with a disease which 
soon proved mortal : with his dying breath he appointed the 
cardinal of Winchester guardian of his infant son, the duke 
of Gloucester regent of England, and the duke of Bedford 
regent of France ; particularly recommending the latter to 
use every possible means of retaining the friendship of the 
duke of Burgundy, on whose alliance he justly believed that 
the security of the English conquests in France depended. 

19. In a few months after, died Charles VI. of France, who 
had been politically dead for several years past. He was 
buried in the cathedral of St. Denis, unattended to the tomb 
by any prince of his blood ; even the duke of Burgundy was 
absent, as he did not think it consistent with his dignity to 
yield precedency to the duke of Bedford. 

20. During this troubled reign, Europe was dis- 
tracted by what is usually called "the schism of i o'~q 
THE WEST." The inhabitants of Rome had been 

long grieved by the continued residence of the popes at Avig- 
non, and on the death of Gregory VI. they surrounded the 
conclave to demand a pope of their own nation, threatening 
to exterminate the whole college in case of a refusal. Urban 
VI. was chosen and consecrated, but soon after, rendering 
himself odious to a great body of the cardinals, they retired 
to Fondi, where they elected a second pope, Clement VII., 
under the pretence that the former election was void, in 
consequence of the force that had been used. 
v^ 21. Thus there were two popes, one at Avignon and one 
at Rome, both claiming infallibility, and both excommuni- 
cating each other as heretics and schismatics. This disgrace- 

M 



178 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

ful exhibition continued for forty years; all Europe was di- 
vided as the potentates happened to be led either by prejudice 
or interest. France embraced the cause of Clement and his 
successors, but England and Germany asserted the cause of 
Urban and the popes chosen in Rome ; a division that not a 
little exasperated national animosities. 

22. While these two pontiffs thundered curses and ana- 
themas against each other, engaged in a most furious war, 
distracted the consciences of men, and disturbed the govern- 
ment of kingdoms, each of them reckoned a number of saints 
on their side, of whose revelations and miracles they boasted 
as proofs of the goodness of their cause. St. Catharine of 
Sienna wrote every where in favour of Urban, and in her letter 
to the king of France, called the cardinals who were favourers 
of Clement, devils incarnate. Such a powerful authority re- 
quired a counterpoise, and some miraculous claims equally 
strong were opposed to it ; but the greatest miracle would 
have been to act with temper, a miracle which it is scarce 
necessary to add was not exhibited. 

23. At length the sovereigns of Europe combined 
1414. ^^ P"^ ^" ^^^ ^*-* what they justly deemed a scandal 
' on religion ; and a council being assembled at Con- 
stance, both popes were deposed, and Martin V. elected in 
their stead. 24. But the council sullied the glory that they 
obtained by thus putting an end to the schism. They sum- 
moned John Huss and Jerome of Prague to appear before 
them on a charge of having broached heretical doctrines, and 
notwithstanding the emperor's safe-conduct, condemned them 
to the flames. They also refused to make any of those re- 
forms in the church which the general wishes of Europe and 
the increasing knowledge of the age demanded, and thus they 
prepared a way for the great religious revolution which was 
about to commence in a succeeding century. 25. Neither 
were the followers of Huss in Bohemia reduced to submission, 
they took up arms in defence of their liberties, and maintained 
a desperate war against their oppressors. Their general, John 
Trasnow, surnamed Ziska or the One-eyed, defeated his an- 
tagonists in several engagements ; on his death-bed he gave 
orders that a drum should be made of his skin, to inspire the 
soldiers with courage. At length a peace was concluded, by 
which the privileges of the Bohemians were confirmed, and 
freedom of religious worship conceded to the Hussites. 
26. The reign of Charles VI. is also remarkable for the first 



CHARLES VI. 179 

appearance in Europe of that extraordinary people 
who have been called Zingeys, Bohemians, or Gypsies ; ,1^1 
it is not easy to account for their origin, but the 
most probable opinion appears to be, that they were an Indian 
tribe expelled from their country by some of the revolutions 
which have taken place in that country. . They certainly 
were not Egyptians, as has been generally supposed ; for in 
language, dress, and manner of life, they are totally different 
from any people that ever inhabited Egypt. They were soon 
treated as a proscribed race, and, like the Jews, persecuted 
wherever they appeared ; but, like that people, they survived 
persecutions, and their descendants still continue to exist as 
a distinct people in many parts of Europe. 




John Huss before the Council of Constance. 



180 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Charles VII. 



CHAPTER XX. 



CHARLES VII., SURNAMED THE VICTORIOUS. 

Thus the French, 
In bright array, and high in confident hope, 
Await the signal; whilst with other thoughts, 
And anxious awe, once more the invading host 
Prepare them in the field of fight to meet 



The Maid of Obleans. 



SOUTHET. 



1. Nothing could' be more deplorable than the 
1422 P'"o^P^'^*'^ of Charles VII. when, by his father's death, 
he became the lawful monarch of France. All the 
provinces from the Scheld to the Loire and the Saone, were 
possessed by the Burgundians and the English, the duke of 
Brittany deserted him, his treasury was so low that a shoe- 
maker refused to give him credit for a pair of shoes, and his 
favourite general, the earl of Buchan, had fallen into the 
hands of his enemies. His infant rival, Henry VI., was peace- 



CHARLES VII. 181 

ably crowned at Paris, most of the great cities sent their de- 
puties to swear allegiance to the English, and the wise admi- 
nistration of the duke of Bedford seemed to have reconciled 
the French to an English government. 2. Charles himself 
appeared to have lost all hope, for, neglecting public aflairs, 
he gave himself up to indolence and dissipation ; his friends 
in vain endeavoured to inspire him with better thoughts, and 
one of them, when asked his opinion of some festival which 
engaged the attention of Charles, replied, " Sire, I do not be- 
lieve it possible for any one to lose a kingdom with greater 
gaiety." 

3. This state of affairs was first disturbed by the mad am- 
bition of the duke of Gloucester, who had married Isabella, 
countess of Hainault, while her husband, the duke of Bra- 
bant, was alive, and had taken up arms to obtain possession 
of her dominions. Such a proceeding greatly displeased the 
duke of Burgundy, who was cousin-german to the injured 
husband, and the war which took place between him and 
Gloucester inspired the Burgundian with a distaste for the 
English, which all the skill of the duke of Bedford was una- 
ble to remove. The war terminated when the pope declared 
Jacqueline's second marriage null and void, but the 
jealousies to which it had given rise were never ef- i /nq 
faced. 4. Orleans was now the only town of im- 
portance which Charles possessed, and it was closely besieged 
by the Earl of Salisbury. Charles, unable to relieve the 
town, was preparing to yield to his unhappy fate, and retire 
into Dauphiny, but he was diverted from this disgraceful 
course by the exhortations of his mistress, the celebrated 
Agnes Sorel, a woman whose many virtues in some degree 
atone for her single crime. 5. The garrison of Orleans pro- 
posed to surrender the town to the duke of Burgundy, to be 
held in trust for their duke, who had been a prisoner in Eng- 
land ever since the fatal battle of Agincourt ; but this proposal 
was rejected by the besiegers, and thus a new cause of jeal- 
ousy arose between the dukes of Burgundy and Bedford. 
The earl of Salisbury was killed by a cannon-shot while di- 
recting the siege, but this loss was compensated by the total 
defeat of the French army while endeavouring to intercept a 
convoy of herrings that were being conveyed to the English 
camp. 6. When Orleans almost approached its ruin, and no 
hope seemed to appear in any quarter, the town was saved, 
and the fortunes of Charles restored by one of the most ex- 
16 



182 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

traordinary revolutions recorded in history. A young girl, 
about eighteen years of age, called Joan of Arc, declared her- 
self comnussioned by heaven to rescue Orleans, and have 
Charles crowned at Rheims, It is not easy to determine 
whether she was an enthusiast or an impostor ; it is probable 
that, like Mohammed and many others, she united both cha- 
racters. Her pretensions were at first derided, but Charles, in 
the unfortunate posture of his aflairs, eagerly caught at the 
first glimpse of hope, and summoned her to his presence. 7. 
On this occasion she is said to have given miraculous proofs 
of her vocation ; she discovered the king, though disguised, 
amidst a crowd of courtiers ; she pointed out a place in a 
church where a sword, ornamented with the cross and the 
arms of France, had been concealed for time beyond human 
memory, and the king declared that she had discovered to him 
a secret known to himself alone. In short, as the delusion 
or imposture was likely to be of service, no means were left 
untried to confirm its authority. 

8. Armed with the miraculous sword, and displaying a 
consecrated banner, the Maid of Orleans, as she is usually 
called, advanced against the English with an army whom en- 
thusiasm had made irresistible. The siege of Orleans was 
raised, and the English, who believed that they had to con- 
tend against a supernatural enemy, began to lose their con- 
quests with greater rapidity than they had been gained. 9. 
Her next exploit was one of equal difficulty and importance; 
she escorted Charles safely to Rheims almost through the 
very midst of his enemies, and personally assisted at his coro- 
nation. As a reward for these services, Joan and her family 
were ennobled ; she now declared, that as the objects of her 
mission were accomplished, she would again return to private 
life, but allowed herself to be persuaded that it was her duty 
to remain until the English were totally banished from France. 
Ere long she had cause to repent this change in her resolu- 
tion ; Compeigne being besieged by the Burgundians, the he- 
roine threw herself into the place with some of her devoted 
followers, and by her means the town was enabled to make a 
successful defence. 10. But the governor, jealous that his 
honours should be shared with a woman, closed the barriers 
against her as she was returning from a successful sally, and 
thus Joan fell into the hands of the Burgundians, who sold 
their prisoner to her inveterate enemies the English. 



CHARLES VII. 



183 




Coronation of Charles VII. 



11. The diike of Bedford, enraged that the wise 
plans and labours of himself and his deceased brother , /qi' 
should have been baffled by a female, refused to treat 
the Maid of Orleans as a prisoner of war ; a species of eccle- 
siastical tribunal was appointed for her trial at Rouen, and 
there she was accused of sorcery, heresy, and unchastity. 
12. The only charge proved against her was that she had 
worn the dress of a man, and consequently her judges could 
not with any appearance of justice condemn her to death ; they 
sentenced her to perpetual imprisonment — in their own ex- 
pressive words — "to drink the cup of sorrow and eat the 
bread of affliction," adding, that if she were to be again de- 
tected wearing the dress of a man, death would be the certain 
consequence. 13. The latter part of the sentence suggested 
to her enemies a piece of execrable cruelty ; they left in her 
prison several articles of male attire, and watched for the mo- 
ment when she would be tempted to try them on. The event 
answered their expectation ; in an unguarded moment the 
maid put on some portion of a warrior's dress, she was 



184 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



dragged a second time before the barbarous tribunal, con- 
demned, and burned to death in the streets of Rouen. 14. In 
her last moments she protested her innocence, and appealed 
to Heaven for vengeance on her persecutors. She is said by 
some to have prophesied that God would punish the nation 

which had thus murdered the 
innocent ; if so, the expul- 
sion of the English from 
France, and their subsequent 
sufferings in the civil wars 
between the houses of York 
and Lancaster, were an ample 
fulfilment of her prediction. 
15. Twenty-five years after 
her death, tardy justice was 
done to her memory; Charles 
directed the proceedings on 
her trial to be subjected to 
the higher courts in Paris, by 
whom they were unanimously 
set aside as illegal and un- 
just. 

1 6. *The forces and 




treasures of both na- 



1435. 



tions being exhausted 
by the length of the war, 
little of importance was at- 
tempted on either side for 



Monument of Joan of Arc. 

some years. But the English power at length met two unex- 
pected misfortunes, which soon destroyed all the effects of 
their former victories. The first of these was a reconcilia- 
tion between the king of France and the duke of Burgundy, 
the second was the death of the duke of Bedford, whom 
vexation and grief for this unexpected event hurried to his 

* The wars had so depopulated the country, that wolves and other 
beasts of prey infested even the city of Paris. In 1437 they entered 
the city by the river, and devoured fourteen or fifteen persons. In 
the following year they appeared again, killed four women and se- 
verely bit seventeen other individuals, of whom eleven died of their 
wounds. There was one formidable wolf in particular, called 
Courtand, because he had no tail, that became an object of universal 
dread. When any person was leaving the city, it was said, " garde: 
vous de Courtand" which afterwards passed into a proverb. 



CHARLES VII. 



185 




Death of Joan of Arc. 



16^ 



CHARLES VII. 187 

grave. Paris opened her gates to Charles, city after city fol- 
lowed the example of the capital, England became distracted 
by civil war, and in a few years nought remained of all their 
boasted conquests but Calais. 

17. The kingdom had been scarcely freed from the 
evils of a foreign enemy, when Charles found his quiet , ' ' 
disturbed by the artifices and cabals of his eldest son 
Louis. This prince, who was a monster of depravity, had 
employed assassins to murder a nobleman against whom he 
had conceived some personal dislike. When the attempt was 
discovered, Charles reproved the treachery of his son in se- 
vere terms, and Louis, impatient of control, retired from the 
court with a firm resolution never again to be subject to his 
father's power. He is accused, but rather from his general 
character than from any definite proofs, of having poisoned 
Agnes Sorel, the beloved mistress of his father; but his cha- 
racter is sufficiently blackened by undeniable crimes, w^ithout 
those which at best have no foundation but suspicion. 

18. The people of Guienne, and especially the citir 
zens of Bordeaux, had been always remarkable for , /p.^ 
their attachment to the English ; after they had re- 
mained for some time subject to Charles, they became wearied 
of a government which disregarded their privileges and loaded 
them with oppressive taxes. Deputies were sent to England, 
entreating Henry VI. to receive them again under his protec- 
tion, and to send them a body of forces to assist in the ex- 
pulsion of the French. 19. Talbot, the most celebrated 
general of the period, was sent to Guienne with a strong 
body of forces. At first he obtained several victories, and 
reduced the greater part of the province, but Charles having 
assembled all the forces of the kingdom, overpowered the 
little army of the English near Castillon. Talbot and his 
gallant son were slain, the greater part of their soldiers either 
killed or made prisoners, and no means of resisting the power 
of Charles remained. Bourdeaux surrendered after a short 
siege, several of its inhabitants were banished, two castles 
called the Chateau Trorapette, and the Chateau-Ha, were 
erected to control the rest, and thus Guienne and Aquitaine 
were irrevocably united to the crown of France. 

20. When Louis the dauphin had withdrawn from his 
father's court, he retired to his own province, Dauphiny; but 
there his cruelties and exactions were so intolerable, 
that his subjects were compelled to appeal to the king. , ^'^ „ 
Charles sent Dammartin to arrest his disobedient son ; 



« 



188 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

but Louis, having obtained notice of his approach, fled to the 
territories of the duke of Burgundy, who received him with 
all the respect due to the son of his sovereign. Charles sent 
frequent embassies to the duke, requiring him to withdraw his 
protection from the dauphin, warning him that " he nourished 
a serpent who would repay his hospitality by attempting his 
life." The Burgundian would not listen to these remonstrances, 
although he knew that Louis had excited his own son, the 
count of Charolois, to acts of rebellion. Charles was 
i^m ^° exasperated against Louis, that he was with diffi- 
■ culty prevented from disinheriting him, and transfer- 
ring the right of succession to his second son. 21. But in 
the midst of his deliberations, he received positive intelligence 
that his domestics had been bribed to poison him by his un- 
natural son. His apprehensions became so great, that not 
knowing from whose hand he could receive food with safety, 
he abstained from eating for several days 5 at the end of that 
lime it was no longer in his power to swallow, and thus his 
death was accelerated by his precautions. He died in the 
59th year of his age, and 39th of his reign ; having, by a 
series of favourable chances, overcome so many dangers and 
difficulties, that he would have deserved the epithet of For- 
tunate, had he been blessed with a different father and a dif- 
ferent son. 

22. The wars in this reign show us that the spirit of chi- 
valry was fast declining. We meet no traces of that indi 
vidual heroism which throws such a romantic interest over 
the history of Edward's invasion, and Azincourt was the last 
great battle in whicii the superiority of the English archers 
was made available. Fire-arms were gradually superseding 
the use of the bow, and cavalry, which had been hitherto the 
most important part of an army, was, by the new system of 
warfare, considerably diminished in value. These changes in 
the art of war had a considerable influence on the political 
condition of society : for the knights and small proprietors, 
who had hitherto possessed great influence by the importance 
of their services, sunk all at once when these were performed 
by hired soldiers. Tlie authority of the feudal aristocracy 
was thus destroyed : in England it was transferred to the 
members of the house of commons, and thus secured for that 
country the blessings of a free constitution ; but in France it 
centered in the crown, and thus the government became 
an absolute monarchy. 



CHARLES VII. 189 

The costume of this period is thus described by Mon 
strelet. " In the year 1461, the ladies laid aside their long 
trains to their gowns, and in lieu of them had deep borders 
of furs of minever, marten, and others, or of velvet and vari- 
ous articles of great breadth.. They also wore hoods on 
their heads of circular form, half an ell or three quarters 
high, gradually tapering to the top. Some had them not so 
high, with handkerchiefs wreathed round them, the corners 
hanging down to the ground. They also wore silken girdles 
of a greater breadth than formerly, with the richest shoes ; 
with golden necklaces much more trimly decked in divers 
fashions than they had been accustomed to wear them. At 
the same time the men wore shorter jackets than usual, after 
the manner in which people were wont to dress monkeys, 
which was a very indecent and imprudent thing. The sleeves 
of their outwai'd dress and jackets were slashed, to show 
their wide white shirts. 

" Their hair was so long that it covered their eyes and 
face, and on their heads they had cloth bonnets of a quarter 
of an ell in height. 

" Knights and squires, indifferently, wore the most sump- 
tuous golden chains. Even the varlets had jackets of silk, 
satin, or velvet; and almost all, especially at the courts "of 
princes, wore peaks at their shoes of a quarter of an ell in 
length. 

" They had also under their jackets stuffings at the 
shoulders, to make them appear broad, which is a vanity, 
and perchance displeasing to God." 



190 HISTORY OP FRANCE. 




Louis XI. 

CHAPTER XXL 

LOUIS XL 

Not serve two masters ? here's a man will try it ; 
Will still serve God, yet give the devil his due; 
Says grace before he does a deed of villany, 
And returns thanks devoutly when 'tis acted. 

Scott. 

1. The conduct of Louis XL, while dauphin, to 
14fil' '^^''^^ ^^'s father and his subjects in Dauphiny, suffi 
ciently proved to the people of France, that his acces 
sion to the throne would be any thing but desirable. He. 
seemed to have some misgivings on the subject himself, foi 
when he heard the news of his father's death, he came to 
Paris escorted by the duke of Burgundy and his son, with 
about fourteen thousand horse. He treated his subjects as if 
they were a conquered people ; he deprived of their situa- 
tions every officer that his father had appointed, took a ma- 
licious pleasure in undoing every thing that had been done in 



LOUTS XI. 191 

the former reign, limited the provision made for his brother, 
loaded the people with taxes, plundered the nobles, and in- 
sulted the clergy. 

3. These proceedings naturally provoked the hostility of 
his subjects ; an alliance was formed against Louis, called the 
league of the public good, but in which every leader sought 
merely his own private advantage. The duke of Berri, 
brother to the king, looked for a larger appanage* the dukes 
of Bourbon and Brittany wished for an enlargement of their 
dominions, the count of Saint Paul desired the office of con- 
stable, and the counts of Armagnac and Damartin sought the 
restitution of their estates. At the head of this confederacy 
was Charles, count of Charolois, the former friend and future 
rival of Louis ; the friendship that they had professed in the 
court of Burgundy while Louis was an exile, had changed 
into the most bitter enmity, and indeed mutual hatred appears 
to have been the necessary consequence of the character of 
both. 3. Charles was headstrong, impetuous, and self-willed, 
unable to disguise or control his violent passions, ambitious of 
glory, regardless of consequences, but possessing many re- 
deeming qualities of the soldier, for he was frank, sincere, 
candid, and generous. Louis, on the other hand, was a con- 
summate master of hypocrisy ; his manners were gentle, kind, 
and insinuating ; he never forgave, but he could dissemble 
his hostihty until a moment favourable for its display had 
arrived ; he felt more pride in having overreached an enemy 
than in winning a battle ; fraud and perjury were his favourite 
weapons, and few have ever wielded them with equal dex- 
terity ; he had no confidence in men, for he believed that all 
were hypocrites like himself. Boththe rivals were harsh, cruel, 
and unprincipled, but the unthinking Charles broadly exhibit- 
ed his faults to the public, while Louis disguised them under 
an affected appearance of humility, which rendered him less 
suspected but more dangerous. It is a strange part of this 
monarch's character, that he was the most credulous as well 
as the most crafty of mankind, he devoutly believed in all 
the absurdities of judicial astrology, and usually had several 
professors of this pretended science in his train ; he was a 
complete devotee in all the forms of worship, frequently con- 
fessing himself to his chaplain, and addressing prayers to the 
leaden images of the saints with which he had adorned his 
dress. His favourite companions were selected from the lowest 

* Property assigned for the support of a younger son. 



192 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

grade of society ; indeed the character of Louis and his court 
may be sufficiently determined by the fact, that his principal 
favourites were Oliver Dain his barber, and Tristan I'Hermile, 
the public executioner. 

4. The count of Charolois without waiting for his allies ad- 
vanced towards Paris, and Louis eager to save his capital, 
hastened to reach it before his rival. The two armies met at 
Mont I'Hery ; both were anxious to avoid an engagement, but 
the seneschal of Normandy, one of the leaguers, precipitated 
a battle, and was himself one of the first that fell. From the 
description given us of this fight, it appears to have been the 
most extraordinary that ever took place, the greater part of 
both armies ran away, and when night separated the combat- 
ants, each believed himself defeated. It was proposed in the 
Burgundian camp to take advantage of the night in order to 
make good their retreat, and they were not a little surprised in 
the morning to find themselves masters of the field. 5. " This 
unexpected victory," says Philip de Comines, " was the source 
of all the calamities which the count of Charolois afterwards 
experienced, for it inspired him with so much confidence in 
his own skill and prowess, that he disregarded all advice." 6. 
Louis retired to Paris, and there began to practise the counsel 
given him by his ally, Sforza, duke of Milan ; the crafty Ita- 
lian had recommended him to promise the leaguers all that 
they demanded, and then, after they had disbanded their troops, 
to sow causes of dissension among them, and attack them in 
detail. This was just the plan which Louis was calculated 
to execute, he made a truce with the leaguers, went into the 
hostile camp, and pretended to feel a wonderful revival of af- 
fection for the count of Charolois ; he made similar demonstra- 
tions of esteem to all the principal leaguers, and expressed 
the utmost anxiety to regain their friendship on any terms 
short of resigning his crown. 7. The treaty was accelerated 
by an unexpected event, which made Louis consent to the ar- 
ticle which he had hitherto most pertinaciously refused. The 
leaguers insisted on the duchy of Normandy as an appanage 
for the king's brother, and Louis dreading that the possession 
of such an important province might prove a step to the crown, 
had rejected the proposal ; but while the matter was still a 
subject of negociation, the Normans, eager to obtain provincial 
independence, everywhere opened their gates to the forces of 
the league. When the news reached the king, he resolved 
to make a merit of granting what he could no longer withhold, 
and immediately signed the treaty. 



LOUIS XI. 193 

8. The policy of Sforza's advice soon appeared : the duke 
of Britlany wished to rule over Normandy in the name of its 
new duke ; Berri was unwilling to permit him, and tliis quar- 
rel nearly caused the ruin of both. Louis marched his forces 
towards Caen, and summoned the duke of Brittany to appear 
before him: that prince, terrified and surprised, consented at 
the conference to resign into the king's hands all the towns 
that his soldiers garrisoned in Lower Normandy. The re- 
mainder of the province yielded either to threats or violence, 
and the duke of Berri, destitute of friends, nioney, spirit, or 
counsel, thought himself happy in escaping with his life to 
the court of Brittany. Normandy enjoyed its qualified inde- 
pendence only two months, but the desire shown to obtain it 
cost the life of several of its nobles, whom Louis put to death 
without any of the formalities of justice. 9. The count of 
Charolois was very indignant when the news of these pro- 
ceedings reached him, but Louis had provided employment 
for him at home, by stirring up the factious citizens of Liege 
and Ghent to rebellion. While the count was reducing the 
insurgents to obedience, his father died, and he succeeded to 
the immense riches and resources of the duchy of Burgundy. 
The citizens of Ghent and Liege were forced to submit to 
very severe terms, and the young duke having increased his 
treasury, by exacting from them heavy pecuniary punish- 
ments, prepared to turn his attention to France, where Louis 
was rapidly recovering all that he had resigned at the peace. 

10. The king had made a furious irruption into 
Brittany: several of the frontier towns had submitted 14^0 
to his arms, when news reached his camp, that Charles 
of Burgundy with a gallant army was rapidly advancing 
towards the Somme. Before his arrival, the leaguers, unable 
to make any effective resistance, had made terms with the 
king ; a piece of news which so surprised and enraged Charles, 
that he was with difficulty prevented from hanging the herald 
who brought him the intelligence. H. Louis was naturally 
anxious to get rid of his vigorous rival, whose presence at the 
head of an army gave encouragement to all the discontented 
spirits of the kingdom. For this purpose, by the advice of the 
cardinal Balue, he took the most extraordinary step that can 
be imagined. Relying on his own superior address, he re- 
solved to pay a personal visit to Charles in Peronne, attended 
only by four or five followers, hoping that he would thus be 
enabled to divert his attention to other objects, or to excite 
jealousy between him and the confederates. 13. But, a few 
17 N 



194 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

days before his journey, Louis had sent emissaries to excite 
another rebellion in Liege, and in his hurry either forgot to 
countermand them, or persuaded himself that the insurrection 
would not break out during his visit. On his arrival at 
Peronne, he was alarmed at meeting in the court of Charles 
several nobles whom his tyranny had banished from France ; 
to save himself from their vengeance, he entreated to be lodged 
in the citadel, and thus voluntarily threw himself into prison. 
13. Meantime the people of Liege had broken out into a 
tierce rebellion, murdering the Burgundian officers and several 
of the clergy, whom they deemed hostile to their civic privi- 
leges. When this news reached Peronne, Charles became 
furious with indignation ; he shut the gates of the town, thus 
making Louis a close prisoner, and was with difficulty pre- 
vented from proceeding to farther outrages. 14. For three 
days Louis remained in terrible suspense, but he did not forget 
his accustomed arts ; he bribed Avith large sums and larger 
promises, all those courtiers whom he supposed likely to have 
any influence over the mind of Charles, and amongst the rest, 
Philip de Comines, to whom we are indebted for this narra- 
tive. At length Charles consented to be pacified ; a new 
treaty was made, by which several counties were annexed to 
Burgundy, and it was further stipulated, that Louis should 
personally assist the duke in the reduction of Liege. 15. The 
anger and disappointment both of the king and Charles were 
vented on that unfortunate place ; it was taken by storm, the 
greater part of its inhabitants were put to the sword, and of 
those that escaped, many subsequently perished by cold and 
famine. 

16. The people of Paris were infinitely amused at the 
manner in which Louis had outwitted himself by too much 
artifice, and taught all their magpies to cry out Peronne, 
Peronne. But the king punished them for their jest, by 
ordering all the tame animals which were kept as pets through 
the city to be put to death. The cardinal Balue, who was 
suspected of secret intelligence with the duke of Burgundy, 
was arrested and confined in an iron cage, a punishment that 
he well merited, as he was the original inventor of such a 
barbarous torture. 

17. The king persuaded his brother to take the 

1A--C) duchy of Guienne instead of the provinces bordering 

'^' on Burgundy, that had been agreed on at Peronne. 

The inhabitants of Guienne and Gascony still remembered 

their national independence with regret, and intrigued with 



LOUIS XI. ■ 195 

their new duke to throw off the yoke of France. But the 
duke of Guienne was taken off by poison as soon as the king, 
his brother, perceived that he was Hstening to these sugges- 
tions ; and a French army came and besieged, in Lectoure, 
count John of Armagnac, who evinced the most activity in the 
old Gascon interest. The town was taken by assault and 
given up to fire and sword, the count perished in the mas- 
sacre ; and his wife, in the seventh month of her pregnancy, 
was compelled to take a beverage to produce abortion, of 
which she died herself in two days. Finally, James d'Ar- 
magnac, duke of Nemours, who harboured,? or was supposed 
to harbour similar designs, was decapitated at Paris ; and his 
children were placed under the scaffold, that their father's 
blood, dropping on their heads, might warn them never again 
to attempt war against the king of France. 

18. The impetuous duke of Burgundy frequently renewed 
the war with Louis, and as frequently was bribed to grant fresh 
truces ; the constable Saint Paul, who had possessed himself 
of some towns on the confines of Burgundy, exasperated the 
animosities of both parties, foreseeing that their agreement 
would prove his destruction. Equally distrusted by the king 
and the duke, he dealt out impartial treachery to both, and 
made his eventual destruction certain, though, by his 
artifices, it was for some time deferred. The insatiable iV-vk 
ambition of Charles involved him in wars with the 
German princes and with the Swiss, but his hatred of Louis 
was the principal guide of his actions. Though he mortally 
hated the house of York, yet he accepted the " order of the 
garter" from Edward IV., and invited him to invade France, 
promising that he would aid him with all his forces. 19, Ed- 
ward, glad of such a pretence for levying money on his sub- 
jects, with whom a French war was always popular, passed 
over to Calais. The duke of Burgundy failed to appear at 
the rendezvous, and when he arrived after a long delay, he 
was unable to furnish his quota of troops. 20. The constable 
had promised that he would surrender Saint Gluentin to the 
duke's allies, but when the forces of Edward came before the 
town, they were fired on and compelled to retire. These cir- 
cumstances furnished Edward with an honourable excuse foi 
putting an end to the war, of which he was already weary, 
and the liberal offers of Louis were not less influential mo- 
tives. In fact, the French king literally bribed Edward and 
his principal nobility, who for several years after disgracefully 
continued the pensioners of France. 21. The two monarchs 



196 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

had an interview at Pequigni, in which the terms of a treaty- 
were soon arranged ; but the duke of Burgundy was so in- 
dignant that he refused to be comprehended in it, yet after- 
wards being eager to continue his unjust war on the Swiss 
and the princes of Lorraine, he concluded a truce with Louis. 
32. The constable St. Paul saw now that his ruin was in- 
evitable, he fled as a last resource to the court of Burgundy, 
but Charles delivered him up to the king, who instantly or- 
dered him to be executed. 

23. The success of the war that Charles waged against the 
Swiss was proportioned to its injustice, he was defeated 
■tAy^ at the battle of Granson with great loss, and the follow- 
ing year he lost his army and his life together at the 
still more fatal field of Morat, by the treachery of an Italian 
officer, the count of Campobasso. This traitor had been long 
attached to the house of Lorraine, of whom Charles was a 
bitter enemy ; he had sworn the destruction of his unhappy 
master, and had almost openly bargained for his assassination. 
Charles, with almost inconceivable credulity, continued to 
trust him, though warned of his treachery ; and when Louis 
sent him word to beware of the Italian, the unhappy duke 
declared the letter to be the strongest proof of Campobasso's 
fidelity: for, said he, "if evil were designed, Louis would be 
the last to send me warning." Scarcely had the armies of 
Lorraine and Burgundy met on the field of Morat, when 
Campobasso deserted with his followers, leaving behind him 
fourteen desperadoes to assassinate the duke in the confusion. 
Dismayed by this unexpected defection, the Burgundians gave 
way at the first onset ; after the slaughter, rather than the 
battle, was over, Charles was found lying under a heap of 
slain, so disfigured with wounds that he could scarcely be re- 
cognised. 24. His generous enemy, the young duke of Lor- 
raine, when shown the dead body, took hold of his once for- 
midable right hand, and pronounced these simple words, "God 
rest thy soul ! thou hast caused us much evil and sorrow." 
He then ordered his body to receive an honourable interment. 
The Swiss were so little accustomed to articles of luxury, that 
they did not know the value of the rich plunder found in the 
Burgundian camp, and it is said that they sold the silver ves- 
sels found there as pewter. 

25. The death of his rival left Louis without a competitor, 
he at once seized on several towns of Burgundy, though at 
the same time honourable means were ofl!ered to him of ob- 
taining the whole ; for the princess Mary, daughter and heiress 



LOUIS XI. 



197 




of the unfortunate Charles, offered 
to unite her dominions to those of 
France by a marriage with the dau- 
phin. But Louis seemed to despise 
possessions acquired honestly ; he 
was even base enough to betray the 
letters of the young princess to the 
factious citizens of Ghent, who 
were her masters rather than her 
subjects, [n consequence of this 
perfidy, the people of Ghent seized 
several of the princess's most fa- 
voured servants, and murdered 
them almost in her presence. She 
was afterwards married to Maximi- 
lian, son of the emperor Frederic TI., 
but died in a few years by a fall 
from her horse. The people of 
Ghent chose her infant son and 
daughter for their sovereigns, and 
betrothed the girl to the dauphin. 

26. Louis had now overcome all his enemies, but 
the vengeance of Heaven would not permit him to en- ^^^-^ 
joy prosperity purchased by crimes ; while sitting at 
dinner, he was suddenly seized with a species of apoplectiq 
fit, which at once deprived him of sense and speech. Though 
he partly recovered from the attack, his health was never per- 
fectly restored ; day after day he visibly declined, and the 
nearer death came, the more did he show that he dreaded its 
approach. Every thing seemed to inspire him with jealous 
fear, he removed his queen from the court, kept his son a close 
prisoner in the castle of Amboise, and always retained in his 
suite Louis, duke of Orleans, the first prince of the blood, 
whom, with barbarous policy, he had deprived of the advan- 
tages of education. He forced him to marry the princess 
Jane, who possessed, indeed, an amiable disposition, but was 
deformed and barren. 27. There is a kind of gloomy satis- 
faction in contemplating the miseries which this cruel tyrant 
suffered from the dread of death. Shut up in his castle of i 
Plessis les Tours, which could only be entered by a single 
wicket, and which was fortified with the most extraordinary 
care, the wicked monarch employed every means to prolong 
life that superstition and quackery could suggest, for his disease 
was bevond the reach of medical art. The companions of 
17* 



An Archer of I he Guard of 
Louis XI. 



A. D. 



198 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

his solitude were his barber, his hangman, and his physician ; 
the latter, named Coctiers, was an artful quack, and had per- 
suaded Louis that, according to the decrees of fate, he should 
die exactly four days before the king. 28. Louis, therefore, 
took care of a life with which he believed his own so inti- 
mately connected, and submitted to all the insolence which the 
impostor chose to exhibit. 

While thus lingering at the point of death, the tyrant en- 
deavoured to persuade the world that his health was perfectly 
re-established, sending embassies to foreign princes, wearing 
the richest robes instead of the plain, not to say shabby, dress 
that he had hitherto worn, and adding, while he lived, fresh 
victims to his suspicious cruelty and undying revenge. He 
had placed his principal hope in the efficacy of the p^rayers 
of Francis de Paule, a pious hermit whom he sent for out of 
Calabria ; before this man he prostrated himself, supplicated, 
flattered, entreated ; but the hermit, with unusual honesty, de- 
clared to him that his case was hopeless, and recommended 
him to prepare for another world. Thus deprived of his last 
hope, and finding himself grow weaker every day, Louis sent 
for his son, and exhorted him not to govern without the aid 
and counsel of the princess and nobles, not to change the 
great officers of state at his accession, not to continue 
I /oq the oppressive taxes, and in fine to make his adminis- 
* tration as unlike his father's as possible. Soon after 
this he died, in the 61st year of his age and 22d of his reign. 

29. There are few princes whose memory has been held in 
more universal execration than that of Louis XL ; more than 
four thousand persons perished for state ofTences by the hand 
of the executioner during his reign, and he took a diabolical 
pleasure in witnessing their torments. It is but fair, however, 
to state, that he diligently attended to the administration of 
justice, and made several judicious regulations in the law 
courts ; he was the first who established posts through the 
kingdom, in order to gratify his restless anxiety for news,, and 
finally, in his reign, the first printing-press was erected in 
Paris. 

When very young Louis XL was married to Margaret, 
daughter to James L, king of Scotland ; but this princess, 
although amiable and gentle tempered, never could acquire 
his regard, and died of grief, as it was said, at his neglect 
and unklndness. 

His second wife, Charlotte of Savoy, was not more happy; 
and although he acknowledged that she was " a virtuous 



LOUIS XL 199 

and loving wife," he treated her with harshness and inat- 
tention, alleging as his chief cause of being offended with 
her, that she expressed more compassion than he approved 
of for the house of Burgundy. By her he had three children, 
one son and two daughters : 

Charles, who succeeded him ; 

Anne, married Pierre de Bourbon, lord of Beaujeu. 

Joan married the duke of Orleans. 

Mezerai tells us, that Louis caused more than four thou- 
sand persons to be put to death by different modes of exe- 
cution, many of which he himself took pleasure in witness- 
ing. He kept the cardinal de Balue for many years shut 
up in an iron cage, as a punishment for his numerous 
political intrigues ; and only released him from his imprison- 
ment on the cardinal's feigning himself at the point of death. 

Louis added greatly to the territories of the crown oi 
France. He won a considerable district from the house of 
Burgundy. The county of Boulogne he acquired by pur- 
chase. The counties of Maine and Anjou were bequeathed 
to him by Charles of Anjou, count of Maine ; who also left 
to him the rich inheritance he had derived from his uncle 
Regnier of Anjou, This inheritance included Bar and Pro- 
vence, together with the imaginary claims of the house of 
Anjou to the crown of Naples. 

In this reign the art of printing was introduced into 
France. ^ 




Louis XI. and Francis de Taule. 



200 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Charles VIII. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

CHARLES VIII., SURNAMED THE AFFABLE AND 
COURTEOUS. 

The king of France, with twenty thousand men, 
Marched up the hill, and then marched down again. 

Old Proverb. 



1. Charles had reached his fourteenth year, the 
, .Qo' legal age of majority, at the time of his father's death, 
but the weakness of his constitution, and the ignorance 
in which he had been brought up, rendered him unfit to un- 
dertake the management of affairs. Louis had by will ap- 
pointed Anne, princess of Beaujeu, guardian to her brother, a 
woman of excellent understanding, high spirit, and vigorous 
resolution, possessing much of her father's craft, without any 
share of his cruelty and perfidy. 2. The princes of the blood, 
especially the dukes of Bourbon and Orleans, thought it be- 
neath their dignity to submit to the control of a woman ; they' 



CHARLES VIII. 201 

declared that since the Sahc law excluded females from the 
crown, by similar reasoning it made them incapable of exer- 
cising regal functions, and the states general were summoned 
to decide on this important point. Contrary to the expectation 
of the princes, the states confirmed the will of the late king, 
and acknowledged the lady of Beaujeu as regent, but they ap- 
pointed a council of twelve, selected from the highest ranks 
of the nobility, to aid her in the administration. The dukes 
of Bourbon and Orleans took up arms, but the promptitude of 
the regent disconcerted their plans ; the former was obliged to 
submit to whatever terms she pleased to dictate, and the latter 
was compelled to seek a refuge in Brittany. 

3. We have already seen on several occasions the strong 
love of independence by which the inhabitants of Brittany 
were animated, and their unwillingness to become incorporated 
with either Normandy or France ; but the discontent of a 
large portion of that people induced ihem to solicit the aid of 
the king of France against their duke, and they found too late 
that a powerful ally soon becomes a master. Charles sent 
them an army far surpassing the number that had been stipu- 
lated ; he garrisoned the towns with French troops, and laid 
claim to the duchy in right of the family of Blois, the former 
rivals of the JVlontforts, who had bequeathed their pretensions 
to the king. 4. The Bretons discovering their error when too 
late, submitted to their duke and joined him with all 
their forces; but the allied forces were totally defeated iVoa* 
by the French at Saint Aubin, their bravest leaders 
either slain or made prisoners, and the whole country placed 
at the mercy of their victorious enemies. Amongst the prison- 
ers were the duke of Orleans and the prince of Orange ; the 
lady of Beaujeu shut up the former, whom she mortally de- 
tested, in close prison, but liberated the latter. 

5. In consequence of this decisive overthrow, the duke of 
Brittany was compelled to make peace on very disadvantageous 
terms ; but grief shortened his days, he died soon after, leav- 
ing behind iiim two daughters, one of whom quickly followed 
her father to the grave. Anne, the heiress of Brittany, though 
only in her fourteenth year, conducted herself with great wis- 
dom under all the diiHculties of her situation. Her subjects 
were divided into several parties concerning her marriage; 
she herself selected the archduke Maximilian, and the nuptials 
were celebrated by proxy ; but that prince, either from indo- 
lence or inability, never came to her assistance, though he 
knew that she was attacked by all the power of France. 6. 



202 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Under these circumstances, the duke of Orleans, whom the 
king had released from prison, contrived an interview between 
Charles and Anne at Rennes ; both were so well 
IdW pleased with each other, that a marriage was the con- 
' sequence, and thus Brittany became completel}^ united 
to France. 7. This was a double insult to Maximilian, for 
Charles had been long contracted to his daughter, and she was 
actually at the time residing in France, whither she had been 
sent by the people of Flanders in the former reign, waiting 
for the completion of the marriage, but as the archduke was 
powerless, and had in some degree caused his own misfortunes 
by his neglect and irresolution, he could only show his indig- 
nation by vain complaints and idle menaces, which nobody 
regarded. 

8. Charles when advanced in life became sensible of the 
defects of his early education, and made some attempts to 
supply them by study ; but with the unsteadiness of purpose, 
which was his most distinguishing characteristic, he gave up 
the attempt, and gave himself up to folly and dissipation. 9. 
As heir to the house of Lorraine, he had some slight preten- 
sions to the kingdom of Naples, which would probably have 
remained for ever buried in oblivion, but for the artifices of 
Ludovico Sforza, a man remarkable even in that depraved 
age, for his pre-eminence in every base quality that can dis- 
grace humanity. Anxious to wrest the duchy of Milan from 
his nephew Galeazzo, he had been long restrained by his fear 
of Ferdinand, king of Naples, to whose grand-daughter 
Galeazzo was married ; and in order to remove this impedi- 
ment, he incessantly sohcited Charles to invade Italy. 10. 
All the old advisers of the king endeavoured to dissuade him 
from this expedition, but his resolution was fixed : he wasted 
however two years' in making preparations, and at length set 
out with an army in which the regular troops did not exceed 
18,000 men ; but there were besides great numbers of the 
young nobility serving as volunteers ; soldiers, whose valour 
might be serviceable in the field of battle, but quite unfit for a 
long and tedious enterprise, as they could not endure either 
fatigue or discipline. 

11. The slate of Italy at this time presents a frightful pic- 
ture of crime ; Ferdinand, king of Naples, and his son Al- 
phonso, duke of Calabria, were universally execrated by their 
subjects for their oppressive exactions and sanguinary cruel- 
ties. Alexander VI. possessed the see of Rome ; his cha- 
racter is thus emphatically described by a Roman Catholic 



CHARLES VIII. 203 

historian : " The abominations and crimes of this monster 
would have been unparalleled, but for the still greater atrocities 
of his natural son, Cresar Borgia." The Venetians had made 
perfidy a law of their state. Peter de Medicis was labouring 
to estabhsh the supremacy of his family at Florence, without 
being very scrupulous about the means. Finally, to use the 
words of Mezeray, " all the Italian princes of the period were 
destitute of religion, displaying a brutal atheism in their words 
and actions, but priding themselves on their profound wisdom 
and crafty policy." But they certainly did not show much 
of the latter quality on this occasion, for during the two years 
employed in making preparations for the invasion, not a single 
step was taken to dissuade an unsteady prince, or to resist a 
weak array directed by a brainless council. 

12. Charles crossed the Alps, and after some delay 
at Asti, where he was seized by the small-pox, ad- i VqV 
vanced to Turin. Here he found his resources already 
so exhausted, that he was obliged to borrow the jewejs of the 
duchess of Savoy, and marchioness of Montferrat,which he 
pledged in order to raise money for the payment of his troops. 
He then marched to Pavia, where he found his cousin 
Galeazzo, duke of Milan, dying of poison, which had been 
administered to him by the perfidious Sforza; when he 
reached Placentia, he learned the death of this unfortunate 
prince, and was at the same time deserted by Sforza, who 
hastened back to Milan to reap the fruit of his crimes. The 
French were indignant at being thus made in some degree 
participators in the murder of a prince who was the cousin- 
german of their sovereign ; they would gladly have stopped 
to exact vengeance, but Charles hurried on to complete his 
conquests, and equally disregarded the claims of his relative 
and the anger of his soldiers. 13. His success was indeed 
sufficient to intoxicate a young monarch possessed of a stronger 
mind than Charles; his progress resembled a triumphal pro- 
cession, for no enemy appeared to impede his march ; Pisa, 
Florence, and even Rome itself, submitted to his forces ; 
Ferdinand died at Naples of sheer terror, Peter de Medicir. 
fled into exile, and Alexander submitted to the king's plea- 
sure, giving his son Caesar Borgia, and the Turkish prince, 
Zizim,* as hostages. 

• This young prince was the brother of the sultan Bajazet, and 
having been engaged in an unsuccessful insurrection, was com- 
pelled to consult his safety by flight. Alexander treated him as 



204 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

14. The conquest of Naples was effected with as 
I Jqp much facility as the march through Italy. Alphonso 
* resigned his crown to his son Ferdinand, and fled 
across the Sicilian strait to Messina. His terror was so great, 
that although his enemies were still 180 miles off, " he ima- 
gined that he saw them in the streets of Naples, and that the 
walls, trees, and stones were shouting the war-cry of France. 
His wife entreated him to remain at least three days longer, 
in order that he might complete a year in his kingdom, but 
he refused to give her this satisfaction, and threatened to 
throw himself out of the window if further attempts were made 
to detain him." His son Ferdinand, who merited a better 
father and a better fate, in vain endeavoured to resist the in- 
vaders ; his troops deserted, his cities opened their gates to 
the French, he was compelled to seek refuge in the island of 
Ischia, and thus in fifteen days Charles obtained the possession 
of all the Neapolitan territories, with the exception of Brindisi, 
Reggio, and Gallipoli. 

15. Success produced its natural effects on weak minds : 
the king and his followers neglecting every kind of business, 
gave themselves up to riot and debauchery ; the soldiers lived 
at discretion, the public treasures were squandered, the inha- 
bitants plundered and insulted, until at length the Neapolitans 
found reason to regret even the tyrants whom they had so 
lately hated. But, in the mean time, a powerful league was 
formed against Charles, at the head of which were his old 
enemy Maximilian, now become emperor of Germany, and 
the pope. 16. Having entrusted the care of the newly-ac- 
quired kingdom to the count d'Aubigny and the duke de 
Montpelier, with whom he left about 4000 soldiers, Charles 
proceeded to return homewards at the head of an army dimin- 
ished to about 9000 men. He delayed some time at Pisa, 
vainly expecting to be joined by the duke of Orleans with a 
reinforcement : but that prince having some claim to the 
duchy of Milan, had attacked Sforza on his own account, and 
after some trifling successes, was closely blockaded in Novarra. 

a prisoner, and even entered into a negociation for delivering up 
the hapless fugitive to his cruel brother. This meditated treachery 
was prevented by the king of France, but before the pope gave 
Zizim up to Charles, he is said to have poisoned him. It is not 
easy to discover whether there is just ground for this accusation, but 
any charge against pope Alexander is credible. He was a monster 
that disgraced not merely the church but human nature. 



CHARLES VIII. 205 

17. This delay gave the conffderates time to concentrate their 
forces ; they assembled an army of 40,000 men, and posted 
them in a valley near Fornova, through which the French 
would necessarily pass. The folly of the confederates in post- 
ing themselves in a space so very narrow, that their numbers 
served only to create confusion ; the avarice of some who 
hurried to plunder the baggage, instead of facing the enemy, 
and the terror which the previous triumphs of the French 
inspired, combined to give Charles an easy victory. With 
the loss of only eighty men, Charles routed the confederates, 
and forced them to take flight, leaving 3000 dead upon the 
field. 18. But notwithstanding this success, the French suf- 
fered almost as much as if they had been defeated, for their 
provision waggons were destroyed, and they had to endure 
all the extremities of famine before they reached the friendly 
town of Asti. 19. Here a new treaty was concluded with 
Sforza, but Charles, scarcely waiting for its conclusion, re- 
passed the Alps, and hastened to Lyons, where he soon forgot 
his love of military enterprise in riotous excesses and dissipa- 
tion. 

20. The kingdom of Naples was lost almost as easily 

as it had been won: all the Italian- princes assisted ij^q^ 
Ferdinand ; but his most effective ally was the king 
of Arragon, who sent him a body of Spanish troops under the 
command of Gonsalvo de 'Cordova, surnamed "the Great 
Captain." The French made a courageous resistance, but 
their enemies being masters of the sea, cut off all reinforce- 
ments ; victory itself became a source of weakness, since they 
could not replace those who fell; the generals were therefore 
compelled to surrender, and in a few months the onl}'' trace 
of the conquests of Charles was the memory of the evils they 
had caused. 

21. The French were naturally indignant at this termina- 
tion of their brilliant exploits, but many causes combined to 
prevent them from recovering what they had lost. The king 
had destroyed his constitution by debauchery ; he was jealous 
of the duke of Orleans, the presumptive heir of the crown, 
and he was naturally of a fickle and wavering disposition. He 
roused himself, however, so far as to assemble an army, but 
when part of them had already crossed the Alps, the expedi- 
tion was suspended and finally laid aside. 22. Charles find- 
ing his health beginning to decay, resolved to adopt a new 
course of life ; he dismissed the companions of his guilty 

18 



206 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

pleasures, and began to apply himself diligently to the reform- 
ation of the kingdom ; but before his subjects could derive 

much advantage from this beneficial change, he was 
14Qk" suddenly attacked by a fit of apoplexy, of w^hich he 

died, in the 28th year of his age and 15th. of his reign. 

23. Charles appears to have been a monarch of good natu- 
ral dispositions : he was so dearly beloved by his domestics 
that some of them died of grief for his loss ; but the barbarous 
policy of his father in depriving him of the advantages of 
education, and shutting him up in the company of menials, 
produced the most destructive effects on his character; it gave 
him a taste for sensual pleasures, because he knew no other, 
and led to that mixture of obstinacy and indecision in his cha- 
racter which is commonly observable in men of vigorous minds 
and little information. His courtesy and kindness of manner 
endeared him to all who knew him ; and it is said, that during 
his whole life, he never made use of an expression which 
could hurt the feelings of a single individual. 

24. Charles died without issue, and the crown consequently 
came to the duke of Orleans, his cousin in the third degree ; 
this was the second time that the succession in the Capetian 
family devolved on a collateral branch. 

The circumstances attending the death of Charles VIII., 
are thus related by a writer of our own times. He lived 
luxuriously. His body, withered and disproportioned, sunk 
under the excesses in which he habitually indulged. 
" Though but eight-and-twenty years of age," says Marillac, 
"his constitution was more worn than that of an ordinary 
man at threescore." He, however, still thought only of 
enjoyment, when, in the fine season of July, 1498, being at 
Amboise, and surrounded by architects and painters, who 
had just built for him the wonderful chateau on which his 
equestrian statue appeared, they submitted for him new 
plans for vast erections, which he contemplated for the em- 
bellishment of his capital. Occupied with these, he appeared 
to have no thought of dying ; but on the 7th of July, after 
dinner, he proposed to the queen that she should accompany 
him to the fosses of the chateau, there to witness the 
game of tennis. He conducted her by the gallery of Ha- 
quelebac, the least commodious passage of the castle, where 
many nuisances were permitted. As they advanced, the 
king struck his forehead against a door-way. The injury, 
however, was considered slight, and he went forward, and 



CHARLES VII. 



207 



remained for a long time looking at the players. On his 
return by the same gallery, he suddenly fell to the ground in 
a fit of apoplexy. There, for nine hours, he was suffered to 
remain, the place being open to all comers and goers, 
stretched on a coarse palliasse, from which he was not 
removed till he breathed his last. 

Notwithstanding his childish arrogance, and his nullity in 
his politics, " the good little king" was beloved by his people. 
"Never," according to Brantome, "had a king of France 
been seen so mild, so benign, and so liberal." So affec- 
tionately attached to him were the officers of his household, 
that it is recorded, one of his archers and one of his butlers 
expired from grief, at the moment his remains were lowered 
into the vaults of St. Denis. Such funeral eulogies, while 
they do honour to the man, prove litde or nothing for the 
king. 




Mazirailian, Emperor of Germany, husband of Mary of Burgundy 



208 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




CHAPTER XXIII. 



LOUIS XII., SURNAMED THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE. 

Seek not to govern by the lust of power ; 
Make not thy will thy law ; believe thy people 
Thy children all ; so shall thou kindly mix 
Their interest with thy own, and fix the basis 
Of future happiness in godlike justice. 

C. JoHIfSOIT. 

1. The calamities which Louis had suffered in the 
i4Qft' ^^""^y P^""*^ ^^ ^'^ ''^"^ produced a beneficial effect on his 
* character; "he had suffered persecution, and had 
learned mercy ; he was a good king, because he had long been 
a faithful subject, and he had learned to moderate the rigours 
of despotism, because he had personally experienced their 
effects." On his accession to the throne, he declared that he 
would not punish any of those by whom he had been injurec^ 
or offended in the former reigns, declaring, " that the king of 
France would not revenge the injuries of the duke of Orleans.' 
2, Unfortunately for his subjects, he was like his predecessor 
infatuated with the desire of Italian conquests, and duped by 



LOUIS XII. 209 

the artifices of the perfidious potentates who then ruled that 
ill-fated land. Pope Alexander had taken an invincible dis- 
like to Ferdinand of Naples, because he had refused to give 
his daughter to Csesar Borgia, the pontiff's natural son ; the 
Venetians were anxious to ruin Sforza, whom they found a 
powerful and dangerous foe ; the Florentines were eager to 
recover Pisa ; and all were dissatisfied with their present con- 
dition. 3, The pope had it in his power to oblige the king; 
he had been married in his early youth much against his will, 
to Jane, the daughter of Louis XL, and he now sought a di- 
vorce on the ground of the force that had been put on his in- 
clinations. To obtain this favour, Louis created Cfesar Borgia 
duke of Valentinois, and entered into a close alliance with 
Alexander ; the pope, on his part, sent Borgia with a bull, 
constituting a court to try the validity of the king's marriage. 
The form of a trial was gone through, the divorce was formally 
pronounced, and Louis immediately after was married to the 
queen dowager, a choice probably dictated by his anxiety to 
keep the province of Brittany united to the crown of France. 

4. The invasion of Italy was crowned with success ; 

the character of Sforza was so infamous that no one iVqq* 
would venture to support his cause ; his subjects de- 
serted him, and the governors of his cities, emulating their 
master's treachery, sold themselves to the enemy. Louis, on 
the news of this success, passed the Alps, made his public 
entry into Milan, clothed in the ducal robes, and was acknow- 
ledcred as its legitimate sovereign by all the Italian princes. On 
the king's return to France, Sforza, by a new revolution, re- 
gained the greater part of the Milanese territories, but was 
soon after defeated and made- prisoner by La Trimouille, 
Louis's bravest general. Sforza, on account of his crimes, 
was imprisoned for life in the castle of Loches. 

5. Though Louis was sufficiently powerful to attempt the 
conquest of Naples without foreign aid, he was unfortunately 
induced to engage the assistance of Ferdinand of Arragon, 
whose general, Gonsalvo, already had possession of several 
of the principal fortresses. Frederic, king of Naples, unable 
to resist so powerful a coalition, surrendered himself a prisoner 
to Louis, by whom he was generously treated, and presented 
with a pension, vi'hich was continued even after the expulsion 
of the French from Naples. The Spaniards and French, after 
having subdued the Neapolitan dominions, quarrelled about 
their shares of the prize ; a furious war commenced between 

18* O 



210 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

them, which ended with the total defeat of the French, and 
their complete expulsion from all their conquests. 

6. The death of pope Alexander produced an entire 

-.^A change in the politics of Italy; he had prepared poi- 
* soned wine to destroy a rich cardinal whose inheritance 
he desired, but through a mistake of the servants, the poison 
was given to the pontiff himself and his son ; Csesar Borgia 
escaped, because he had only taken a small quantity, but 
Alexander perished miserably. He was succeeded by Pius 
II., who survived his election only twenty-six days ; Julius II. 
was elected in his room, a pontiff remarkable for his crafty 
policy, restless ambition, and intense hatred of the court of 
France. 7. Louis made vigorous attempts to punish the 
Spaniards for their perfidy, but the death of La Trimouille 
caused the ruin of the expedition sent against Naples ; two 
armies which had been sent to invade Spain were defeated, 
from the incapacity or treachery of the leaders, and Louis was 
so mortified by these repeated disappointments, that he fell 
into a dangerous illness, which nearly proved fatal. 

8. In the reign of Louis XI. we mentioned that the people 
of Flanders had undertaken the guardianship of the son and 
daughter of their count the duke of Burgundy, whom their 
unfortunate mother had left at her death in helpless infancy. 
The son, on reaching the years of maturity, found himself in 
peaceable possession of Flanders and its riches, his father 
elevated to the empire, and his wife presumptive heiress to 
the throne of Castile. The kingdoms of Castile and Arragon 
had been united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
during whose reign the power of the Moors was destroyed in 
Spain, and the new world discovered. 9. But the happiness 
of Isabella was not unmixed ; her only son and eldest daugh- 
ter, whom she passionately loved, died in the prime of life, 
and grief for their loss hurried her to the grave. The crown 
of Castile descended to the archduchess Joanna, who proceeded 
to Spain, accompanied by her husband and her infant son, 
afterwards the celebrated Charles V. Soon after Philip died, 
and grief for his loss produced such an effect on the 

■•roj mind of Joanna, that she became incapable of manag- 
ing the affairs of state ; in consequence of this, Ferdi- 
nand of Arragon took upon himself the office of regent, acting 
in the name of his grandson Charles, then only seven years 
old. 10. Charles had been contracted to the princess royal 
of France, who, in default of male heirs, had succeeded to her 
mother's right over the duchy of Brittany ; but the states- 



LOUIS XII. 211 

general, unwilling that this province should be disunited from 
the kingdom, protested against this union, and caused the 
princess to be married to her cousin Francis, duke of Valois, 
the presumptive heir to the crown. This was the third insult 
which Maximilian had received in a similar manner, and he 
ardently longed for opportunities of revenge. 

11. The Venetians, enriched by a long monopoly 
of eastern commerce, which, notwithstanding the dis- i-'z-je 
covery of the passage round the cape of Good Hope, 
continued to flow for some years in its accustomed channels, 
had, b}' their haughtiness and ambition, ofl^ended all the 
princes of southern Europe. Their most dangerous enemy 
was pope Julius, who formed against them the powerful league 
of Cambray ; by which the emperor, the pope, the kings of 
France and Spain, vi'ith the duke of Savoy, were united against 
the republic. 12, Louis was the first to take the field ; he 
almost annihilated the Venetian forces at the battle of Agnadello, 
and Venice would have been utterly ruined but for a new 
change in the policy of Julius. The senate conciliated 
the pontiff by the cession of all the towns that he de- ^^^n 
manded ; upon which the pope, breaking his engage- 
ment vt'ith the allies, detached the king of Spain from their 
league by giving him the full and entire investiture of the 
kingdom of Naples, and turned all the activity of his hatred 
against the king of France. 13. Louis, before entering on a 
war with the pope, consulted the clergy as to the lawfulness 
of a war with the head of the church, and having received a 
favourable answer, prepared to carry on the contest with 
vigour. The French gained many victories, especially one 
at Ravenna, where their favourite hero, Gaston de Foix, was 
slain ; but they obtained no permanent advantage, partly from 
the king's unwillingness to reduce Julius to extremities, and 
the scruples of his queen, who believed a war with the pope 
impious ; but still more from the hatred of the inhabitants, 
who were wearied of the French. 14. The Swiss, who had 
been long the faithful allies of Louis, were induced to join the 
papal side, because Louis had spoken of them sHghtingly, and 
refused to increase their pay, while the monarchs of England 
and Germany were silently preparing to dismember his do- 
minions. 

15, In the midst of the struggles Julius died, a vie- 
tim to a violent fit of passion, and was succeeded by igio* 
Lpo X. ; a prelate conspicuous for his talents and pa- 
tronage of literature, but whose vices rendered him unfit to be 
the head of the Christian Church ; he continued the war 



212 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

against France, but was not so virulent an adversary as his 
predecessor. 

16. Henry VIII. of England, eager to prove both his va- 
lour and his devotion to the cause of the church, invaded the 
province of Picardy in conjunction with the emperor Maximi- 
lian. The French, advancing to prevent him from besieging 
Terouenne, commenced an engagement at Guinnegate, where 
they were totally defeated, and the duke de Longueville Avith 
the celebrated chevaher Bayard, were among the prisoners. 
This is usually called the battle of the spurs, because the 
French made more use of them than of their swords on that 
day. In consequence of this victory Terouenne surrendered, 
but the two princes not being able to agree about its posses- 
sion, terminated their dispute by burning it to the ground. 
Tournay shortly after submitted, and was garrisoned by the 
English. 17. But Henry soon became wearied of the war, 
especially when his father-in-law, Ferdinand of Arragon, by 
whose means he had been chiefly induced to engage in it, re- 
fused to perform any of his promises. The death of the 
French queen suggested to the duke of Longueville apian for 
effecting a peace ; he proposed that Louis should marry the 
princess Mary,* Henry's sister, and that a large sum of money 
should be paid to defray the expenses of the war. 18. On 
these conditions the treaty was concluded, but the rejoicings 
on account of the marriage so weakened the constitu- 
,j.', _* tion of Louis, already broken down by the vexations 
resulting from fifteen years of unsuccessful warfare, 
that he died shortly after in the 53d year of his age, and the 
17th of his reign. 

19. The memory of Louis XII. was deservedly venerated 
by his subjects, because he diminished the old taxes one half 
and never imposed any new, notwithstanding his long wars 
and numerous reverses. In vindication of his economy, he 
frequently said, " I had rather see the courtiers laugh at my 
avarice, than my people weep on account of my expenses." 
Had he spared the blood of his subjects as well as their money, 
he would have better merited the applause of posterity ; but 
the desire of acquiring dominions in Italy seems to have been 

* This marriage was negociated byde Longiieville, who had been 
a prisoner in England since the battle of the spurs. She had been 
previously contracted to the Spanish prince Don Carlos, and had 
even taken the title; but the object of her affections was the beauti- 
ful and accomplished Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, to whom 
she was married after the death of Louis. 



LOUIS XII. 213 

long a mania of the French princes, of which they could not 
be cured, even by misfortune. When on his death-bed, Louis 
sent for his heir, the duke of Valois, and embracing him said, 
" I am dying, I commend my subjects to your care." Thus 
showing that anxiety for the welfare of his people occupied 
his last moments. 




A Courtier of the Fifteeatb Century. 



214 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Francis 1. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



FRANCIS I. 



Hold, good sword, but this day, 
And bite hard, where I hound thee; and he'-'^after 
I'll make a relique of thee, for young soldiers 
To come like pilgrims to, and kiss for conquest. 

Beaumoitt. 

1. Francis, count d'Angouleme and duke of Valois, 
.p.\J was in the twenty-first year of his age at the time of 
his accession ; he was brave, generous, and open- 
hearted, but at the same time rash and daring, ambitious of 
military glory, but destitute of the wisdom and steadiness 
necessary for the completion of great enterprises. Like his 
predecessor he made the acquisition of the duchy of Milan 
his principal object, and like him he was destined to meet 
with great triumphs followed by signal disappointment. 
Maximilian Sforza, who was at that time duke of Milan, see- 
ing the storm ready to burst over his head, a))plied to the 
different princes of Europe for protection, and a confederacy 



FRANCIS I. 215 

was formed, consisting of the emperor, the pope, the Swiss 
cantons, and Ferdinand of Arragon, to prevent the French 
from re-establishing themselves in Italy. 2. The Swiss hav- 
ing secured the principal passes of the Alps, it was thought 
that Francis would be compelled to resign the contest; but 
Trevulzio, an old Milanese general in the service of France, 
led the army through the mountains of Piedmont, and at the 
same time the advanced guard having entered Italy by a dif- 
ferent route, surprised the papal forces, and made their gen- 
eral. Prosper Colonna, prisoner. So little was the appearance 
of the enemy expected, that Colonna was preparing to sit 
down to dinner at the moment he was taken. 

3. On the news of this success, Francis hastened to join 
his army, which had already advanced within sight of Milan. 
The confederates, terrified at his rapid success, and not very 
closely united amongst themselves, proposed terms of peace; 
the treaty was on the point of being completed, when the 
arrival of 10,000 Swiss auxiliaries at once interrupted the 
negociations. Eager for plunder they demanded to be led 
immediately to battle; their leaders were obliged to comply, 
and about four in the evening a furious attack was made on 
the French camp at Marignano. 4, The advanced guard of 
the French, after some resistance, were compelled to give 
ground, but the king coming up with some of his choicest 
troops, prevented the enemy from pursuing their advantage. 
Never was there so well contested a fight. Trevulzio said 
that the twenty-five battles in which he had been before, were 
but children's play compared with this, which was a battle of 
giants. The combat continued through a great part of the 
night, until both armies were so exhausted as to be compelled 
to desist by mutual consent. The soldiers on both sides were 
intermingled, but so complete was their lassitude, that they 
lay down to sleep in the order, or rather disorder, in which 
they found themselves. Francis spent the night on the car- 
riage of a gun, and was compelled to quench his thirst with a 
little water mingled with mud and blood, which a soldier 
brought him in his cap; but fatigue and heat made even this 
draught a luxury. Before dawn Francis was on the alert, 
disposing his artillery, musketry, and Gascon cross-bows in the 
most favourable positions. The Swiss renewed the attack at 
daylight, but the artillery and musketry placed on their flanks, 
threw their battalions into confusion, their lines began to 
waver; at this decisive moment the cavalry charged, and cut 
to pieces the disordered ranks by which they were opposed. 



216 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

The Swiss commanders made an effort to rally their forces, in 
which they were partially successful, but the appearance of 
Venetian troops advancing to the assistance of the French, 
convinced them that their case was hopeless; they retired in 
good order, but ten thousand of their best troops were left 
dead upon the plain. 

5. In consequence of this victor}", Francis obtained posses- 
sion of INlilan ; Maximilian Sforza resigned his claim to the 
duchy, in exchange for a pension ; the Swiss cantons agreed to 
a cessation of hostilities ; and the pope paid him a visit at Bo- 
logna, in order to treat with him in person. Having thus, as 
he believed, firmly established his power in Italj', the king re- 
turned to Lyons, where his mother and wife awaited him, so 
elated by his victory that he thought himself irresistible. 

6. In the following year died Ferdinand of Arragon, who 
had been the principal cause of all the wars that devastated the 
south of Europe ; one of his panegyrists observes, that " the 
only thing for which he deserves blame was his habit of al- 
ways breaking his word ;" a crime which the Italian historians 
seem to think very pardonable. On his death, Francis made 
some preparations for the invasion of Naples, but the deter- 
mination of the emperor, the Swiss, and all the Italian powers 
to check his further progress, prevented him from putting his 
intentions into execution. 7. Charles V. succeeded to the 
crowns of Arragon and Castile, as his mrother was now sunk 
into confirmed insanity, and one of the first acts of his govern- 
ment was to make peace with France. 

8. The death of the emperor Maximilian, the most 

A. D. 1- 1 r 11 I • • 

._,Q extraordmar}' cnaracter of all his cotemporanes, was 
destined to produce a great change in the politics of 
Europe. 9. This prince had been equally distracted by ava- 
rice and ambition ; his marriage with the heiress of Flanders 
and Burgundy, gave him a claim to the extensive dominions 
of Charles the Bold, but his efforts to recover them were weak 
and desultory ; on the death of his wife, the Flemings deprived 
him of all authority, and took upon themselves the guardian- 
ship of his children, an arrangement to which he submitted 
with a very bad grace. A new opportunity of acquiring 
power was presented to him by Anne of Brittany, who chose 
him for her husband ; but Maximilian, instead of affording her 
any assistance, deserted her in the midst of her enemies; she 
in consequence broke the contract and married the king of 
France. Maximilian in revenge made several confederacies 
against the French power, but as he alwaj^s deserted his aihes 



FRANCIS I. 217 

in the time of action, all the preparations ended in nothing. 
One of his schemes was to have himself elected pope, on the 
death of Julius II. ; but his unwillingness to part with money, 
was probably the cause of his not coming forward as a candi- 
date at the election. 10. His reign will ever be memorable 
for the commencement of the Reformation in Germany, Pope 
Leo X. had exhausted the papal treasury by the magnificent 
buildings which he erected in Rome, and in order to replenish 
his funds, issued bulls for the sale of indulgences ; Tzetzel, 
the papal agent in Germany, conducted the infamous traffic 
with such indecent vehemence, that he provoked Martin Lu- 
ther, an Augustinian monk, to oppose the sale. The pope 
sided with Tzetzel, and in the progress of the dispute, Luther 
was led to oppose not only indulgences, but several other gross 
corruptions which had crept into the Christian Church. The 
Romish clergy instead of making any concessions, which the 
increasing spread of knowledge imperatively required, clung 
to the corruptions as if they were the essentials of Christianity, 
and thus closed the door against all accommodation. Lulher 
and his followers in Germany, Zuinglius in Switzerland, the 
remnant of WicklifFe's followers in England, and the descend- 
ants of the Albigenses, called Hugonots, in France, made al- 
most a simultaneous attack on the papal power, and finally 
succeeded in withdrawing a great part of Europe from its al- 
legiance to the holy see. 

11. On the death of JMaximilian, Francis and Charles be- 
came candidates for the empire, protesting at the same time, 
that their rivalry would make no change in their mutual friend- 
ship. Charles was the successful candidate, partly by the ex- 
ertions of the duke of Saxony, who refused the empire him- 
self, and partly by the influence of a large sum of money, 
which had been sent from Spain to be distributed among the 
electors. In spite of his professions, Francis could not but feel 
disappointed at his defeat; besides, he was justly alarmed at 
the increase of power obtained by his rival, who being the 
legal representative of the dukes of Burgundy, he feared 
might attempt to recover the possessions and avenge the wrongs 
of his family. 12. To secure himself from these threat- 
ening dangers, he courted an alliance with Henry VIII. icon* 
of England, who was equally jealous of the increased 
power of Charles; an interview was arranged between the 
monarchs, and in June they met near Ardres, in a plain, called 
from the magnificence displayed there, the field of the cloth 
of gold. After the young monarchs had met, they alighted 
19 



218 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

and entered into a pavilion prepared for their reception, each 
attended by two or three ministers, where they held a brief 
conference on public affairs. They soon became wearied of 
business, and spent the following fourteen days in festivals and 
tournaments. Before separating, they confirmed their treaty 
by a solemn oath on the sacrament, which they received to- 
gether. 13. Francis did not derive any advantages from this 
alliance, for Charles V. soon after took an opportunity of land- 
ing in England, and prevailed upon Wolsey by bribes and 
flatteries, to persuade his vacillating master to hold himself 
neuter, and to be ready to act as an umpire if required. 

14. A war soon commenced between Charles and Francis, 
each accusing the other of having been the first to commence 
hostilities. The two rivals somewhat resembled Louis IX. and 
Charles the Bold in their character and conduct. The empe^ 
ror was cautious, prudent, and calculating, never hazarding 
any enterprise until he had taken every precaution to ensure 
its success ; careful in his selection of ministers and generals, 
and more proud of skill in negocialions than of glory in the 
field. The king, on the other hand, was hasty, rash, and im- 
provident, ready to undertake the most dangerous expeditions, 
but utterly regardless of his means; extravagant in his plea- 
sures, the slave of his mother; a bold unprincipled woman, 
the dupe of corrupt ministers and unskilful generals. 15. The 
war first commenced in Flanders, where Francis had an op- 
portunity of crushing the power of his rival by a single blow, 
but neglected to avail himself of it, in order to annoy the con- 
stable, Charles of Bourbon, against whom he had conceived a 
fatal dislike. The constable had affi-onted the king's mother 
by some harsh remarks on her glaring vices, and had dis- 
pleased the king by the stern severity of his morals, but he 
was the only general then in France capable of managing an 
army. 16. In Italy the French were everj^where defeated, 
notwithstanding all the exertions of their leader, Lautrec ; and 
before the first year of the war had ended, they had been 
driven from all their conquests in the Milanese. This event 
gave so much pleasure to Leo X. that he died of joy. 

17. Francis, who was the real author of this calamity, as 
he had wasted the money required for the payment of the 
troops in luxury and debauchery, severely reproached Lautrec 
for having suffered such a loss. The general threw the blame 
on Semblancai, the minister of finance, for not having furnished 
him with the means of satisfying the soldiers. Semblancai 
declared that he had paid the money to the queen-dowager 



FRANCIS I. 



219 



and offered to produce her receipt ; but that princess dreading 
an exposure, had bribed a clerk in the treasury to steal the 
receipt, and the venerable minister was sentenced to be exe- 
cuted. The chancellor du Prat is said to have participated in 
this crime, from envy of the influence that Semblancai had 
with the king, who always called him "his father." Du Prat 




The Chancellor du Prat and his Wife. 



was then employed to raise money, which was effected by the 
most illegal and scandalous methods : the royal domains were 
alienated, the offices of state publicly sold to the highest bid- 
der, and the taxes, already oppressive, were doubled. 
18. The artifices of Wolsey, who expected to be 
raised to the papacy by the influence of Charles, had . ^^.^ 
induced Henry to join in the war against Francis, but 
the king's folly and his mother's iniquity raised up a more 
dangerous enemy in the bosom of his kingdom. We have 
already seen that the constable of Bourbon had been treated 
with neglect, but the king's mother, not satisfied with this, 
resolved to rob him of his properly. For this purpose she 
laid claim to the duchy of Bourbon, and as she had the selec- 
tion of the judges by whom her claims were to be tried, it was 
not difficult to foresee how the matter would be decided. At 
the same time the admiral Bonivet, who looked upon the con- 
stable as his rival, laboured to widen the breach between him 
and the king, and succeeded so completely, that Bourbon was 



220 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

reduced to despair. In his distress, he adopted the unfortu- 
nate resolution of deserting to Charles. Francis was on the 
point of setting out for Italy when the defection of Bourbon 
alarmed him Avith the danger of an insurrection at home ; but 
notwithstanding this peril, and though an English army had 
actually invaded France, he sent Bonivet across the Alps to 
make another effort for the recovery of the Milanese. 

19. Bonivet was by no means a match for Launoy, Pescara, 
and Bourbon, the generals of Charles ; after an infinite num- 
ber of errors, which he was unable to repair, he found himself 
compelled to retreat, hotly pursued by his justly exasperated 
enemy the constable of Bourbon. The French did not, how- 
ever, suffer much during the retreat, owing to the admirable 
arrangem.ents of the chevalier Bayard, who commanded the 
rear. This favourite hero of the age was the last model of 
chivalry that appeared in Europe ; he was usually called the 
knight without fear and without reproach, (le chevalier sans 
peur et sans reproche) ; though he held only the rank of cap- 
tain, he really possessed more influence than any general, 
from the universal respect and admiration inspired by his high 
character. 20. Unfortunately, while engaged in repelling an 
attack on the rear-guard, he was mortally wounded ; unwil- 
ling that the army should be delayed by his misfortune, he 
ordered himself to be placed against a tree with his face 
toward the enemy. In this condition he was found by the 
constable, who began to lament the chance of war that had 
reduced so noble a knight to such a miserable condition ; but 
Bayard declared, " I am not an object of pity, sir duke ; I die 
happy in having performed my duly to my kmg and country ; 
it is you who deserve pity, who are bearing arms against your 
native land, forgetting that the death of every traitor is violent, 
and his memory detested." 

21. France was now on every side encompassed with 
T^W '^^"g'^rs ; Charles, Henry, and the Bourbon, had en- 
tered into a treaty of partition for dividing it between 
them; Henry was to have the provinces which formerly be- 
lono-ed to England, the Bourbon was to receive the ancient 
kingdom of Provence, and all the rest was to be given to 
Charles. But it was necessary to conquer France before di- 
viding it, and in this the confederates totally failed ; Bourbon 
invaded the country, but not one of his former partizans would 
take up arms in his behalf; the English king did not send the 
promised subsidies, the emperor withheld the auxiliaries ne- 
cessary to recruit the invading army, and on the approach of 



FRANCIS I. 221 

Francis with a numerous train, the constable was obliged to 
raise the siege of Marseilles, and retreat precipitately into 
Italy. 22. Thither, with his characteristic imprudence, Francis 
resolved to follow him. He was at first very successful, Milan 
surrendered without any resistance, the imperial generals fled 
before him, and had Francis pursued their dispirited forces, 
he would probably have put a glorious end to the war; but 
yielding to the injudicious advice of Bonivet, he laid siege to 
Pavia, a well-fortified town, defended by a numerous garrison 
under the command of Antonio de Leyva, a general of great 
abilities. At the same time Francis weakened his army by 
sending one detachment to invade the kingdom of Naples, and 
another to take possession of Savona. 

23. The siege of Pavia went on but slowly ; so great 
was the improvidence of the king, that his attacks -ij-'ok' 
were frequently suspended from want of ammunition, 
and his schemes disconcerted by want of wisdom in his offi- 
cers and discipline in his soldiers. Meantime, Launoy and 
Bourbon having recovered from their panic, advanqed with a 
numerous army to raise the siege. Had Francis retreated on 
their approach, he might easily have entrenched himself in 
Milan, and set the imperialists at defiance, but he had made a 
promise not to stir from before Pavia until it had submitted, 
and all persuasions to the contrary were useless. 24. On the 
night of the 23d of February, the imperiahsts attacked the 
camp of the French, but were repulsed from the entrench- 
ments with some loss ; Francis, believing that victory was 
now in his hands, imprudently sallied out, and by the impetu- 
osity of his charge, threw the hostile cavalry into confusion; 
but Bourbon coming up, rallied his forces, and introducing 
some bodies of musketry between the troops of horse, com- 
pelled the French to give ground in turn. At this moment, 
Ley\a, making a sally from the town, fell on the rear of the 
French ; the effect of this manoeuvre was decisive ; placed 
between two fires, the lines were everywhere broken. The 
duke d'Alen^on, first prince of the blood, seized with a dis- 
graceful panic, set the example of a shameful flight, and never 
halted until he arrived at Lyons, where he soon after died of 
shame and vexation ; several of the nobility followed him, and 
Francis was left almost alone in the midst of his enemies. 
Yet, even in this distress, the king showed a courage worthy 
of his fame ; he fought gallantly against the fearfui odds by 
which he was opposed, and when all hope was gone, he re- 
fused to yield himself to the traitor Bourbon, but surrendered 
19* 



222 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

himself a prisoner to Launoy. The French had not met with 
so great a calamity since the battle of Poictiers, their king was 
a captive, the flower of their nobility and the best of their 
soldiers were slain. Bonivet fell amongst the rest, and when 
Bourbon saw his dead body, he exclaimed, " Unfortunate man, 
you have ruined France, yourself, and me." 

25. The battle of Pavia produced terror in France, joy in 
Spain, jealousy in England, and dissatisfaction in Italy. Louisa 
of Savoy, the king's mother, took upon herself the regency, 
and by her prudent conduct, restored order and confidence to 
France. Wolsey, finding that he had been duped by Charles, 
inspired his capricious master with so much distrust of the 
emperor, that Henry entered into a league with the regent to 
preserve the integrity of France. The Italian states, dreading 
to be overwhelmed by the victorious Charles, entered into a 
confederacy for their mutual protection, while the emperor 
himself affected to conceal his joy under an appearance of 
moderation, but rejected the counsels of those who advised him 
to immortalize himself by an act of generosity, and set Francis 
at liberty without ransom. 26. Launoy did not know in what 
manner to secure his illustrious captive ; if he kept him in 
Italy, he had reason to dread that the Swiss or the Italian 
princes would rescue him in hopes of obtaining a reward ; the 
number and strength of the French galleys rendered it dan- 
gerous to send him by sea to Spain, and the journey to Ger- 
many was equally hazardous. In this dilemma, Launoy craftily 
suggested to Francis that every thing might be arranged by a 
personal interview with Charles; weary of his imprisonment, 
the king eagerly caught at the proposal, and issuing orders to 
his naval forces, not to intercept him on the voj^age, allowed 
himself to be quietly transmitted to Spain. 

27. On his arrival there, he was not received by the em- 
peror as he expected, but was shut up a close prisoner in the 
tower of Madrid. Vexation for his losses, and that delay of 
hope which makes the heart sick, soon produced a violent fit 
of illness that brought the royal captive to the verge of disso- 
lution ; Charles dreading that his prisoner would thus escape, 
and deprive him of his expected advantages, paid him a visit, 
and held out expectations of a speedy and honourable accom- 
modation. This gleam of hope restored the health of Francis, 
but his captivity was prolonged for several months. 28. At 
length it was agreed that he should be liberated on condition 
of paying a large ransom, resigning to Charles the duchy of 
Burgundy, and all the provinces claimed by the French in 



FRANCIS I. 223 

Italy, giving- his two sons as hostages, and plighting his kingly 
word, that if the conditions of the treaty were not observed, he 
would return to prison. 

29. But Francis had no intention of dismembering 
his kingdom; under the pretence that the states of irofi 
Burgundy would not consent to the proposed arrange- 
ment, he refused to give Charles that province, and at the 
same time entered into an alliance with the king of England, 
the pope, and the princes of Italy, to check the alarming 
power of the emperor. Nothing could equal the indignation 
of Charles when he learned this news ; he saw that he had 
lost an opportunity which he could scarcely hope to regain, 
and that he had been guilty of a harsh ungenerous action 
without obtaining any advantage. He vented his indignation 
on the unfortunate young princes who had been left to him as 
hostages, conduct which served only to increase the hostility 
of Francis, and to excite the indignation of all the European 
princes. 

The circumstances attending Francis's entry into France, 
after his liberation, are thus detailed by a recent writer. 
Lannoy attended him to the Bidassoa with an escort of fifty 
horse, and found Lautrec waiting on the opposite shore, vvith 
the two princes who were to be left as hostages, and a like 
escort. In the middle of the river a large empty bark had 
been moored, where the exchange was to take place. The 
attendants drew up on the two opposite banks. Lannoy, with 
eight gentlemen, put off from the Spanish shore ; and Lau- 
trec, with an equal number, advanced from the French side. 
Lautrec had scarcely put into the hands of Lannoy the two 
hostages, when Francis, after hastily embracing the dauphin, 
then eight years of age, and the duke of Orleans, jumped 
into the French boat. On reaching the shore, he mounted 
a Turkish horse, which waited for him, and galloped off at 
full speed to St. Jean de Luz, and thence to Bayonne, joy- 
fully exclaiming several times, "I am still a king!" but 
scarcely daring to believe that he was at liberty, while he 
remained in sight of the Spanish soil, on which he had ex- 
pected to end his days. 

After a captivity of two years, Francis was more eager to 
lead the life of a grand seignior than to attend to the affairs 
of his kingdom. His first care was to resume those pleasures 
from which he had been severed so long. It was at Bor- 
deaux, while he rejoined his court, that he formed his liason 
with Anne de Pisseline, the duchess of Etampes, who was 



224 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



to renew the part of Agnes Sorel, so well known in French 
history. At Cognac, the place of his birth, Francis fell 
from his horse, while engaged in the chase, and was detained 
there some time. 




Monument of Montmorency. 



FRANCIS I. 



225 




French Knight of the Sixteenth Century. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



FRANCIS I. CONTINUED. 



Fight like your first sire, each Roman, 
Alaric was a gentle foeman, 
Match'd with Bourbon's black banditti ! 
Rouse thee, thou eternal city ! 

Btboit. 

1. Charles, anxious to regain his Italian acquisi- 
tions, sent the constable Bourbon to seize the Milanese , J^y 
territory, promising him the investiture of the duchy, 
to the exclusion of Sforza, Bourbon having soon subdued the 
Milanese; prepared to march against Rome, in order to satisfy 
with its plunder his soldiers, who were mutinous for want of 



226 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

pay. On the evening of the 5th of May, the imperialists ar- 
rived before the Avails of Rome, and on the following morning 
the orders for the assault were given. 2. The constable was 
slain by a musket-shot at the very first onset, but his death 
being concealed from the soldiers, they advanced as if ani- 
mated by his spirit, and " the immortal city" fell into the hands 
of barbarians, as savage and as merciless as those hordes 
whose ravages had before levelled her beauties to the earth. 
For several months the city remained in the possession of the 
imperialists, and was the theatre of every crime which the 
worst passions of the heart could dictate, or the fiercest vio- 
lence execute. The pope was taken prisoner, and was long 
in great danger of his life from those who pretended to be his 
most devoted adherents ; for it is a strange circumstance, that 
the Catholic Spaniards evinced more hostility on this occasion 
to the city and the pope than was shown by the Germans, 
who were for the most part Lutherans. 3. This event occa- 
sioned two other strange proceedings, which may well be 
styled solemn farces. The imperialists gravely proclaimed 
Martin Luther pope ! The emperor, upon receiving news of 
the captivity of his holiness, instead of sending orders to set 
him at liberty, ordered prayers to be offered up, and proces- 
sions to be made for his deliverance, after which he compelled 
him to purchase his freedom with a large ransom. The con- 
querors of Rome, by their excesses, soon destroyed themselves ; 
a pestilence broke out among them, and out of all their forces 
scarcely five hundred survived when the city was liberated by 
the French general Lautrec, ten months after its capture. 
■ 4. The war betvveen Francis and Charles was now renewed, 
but it was not productive of any very important events ; the 
rival sovereigns mutually gave each other the lie, and sent 
challenges to decide their disputes by single combat, but these 
indecent bravadoes served only to make both contemptible. 
5. Meantime, Italy was a prey to the ravages of war. The 
French at first had the advantage, and Pavia was sacked with 
the utmost cruelty in memory of the battle that had been lost 
before it. But Andrew Doria, a Genoese of distinction, Avho 
had essentially aided the French with the galleys of his re- 
public, became suddenly discontented with the conduct of 
Francis ; he went over to the emperor, and fortune changed 
with him. The same errors which had produced former 
calamities were repeated ; the money raised for the support 
of the army Avas lavished by the king and his court in luxury, 
the supplies were delayed until they were no longer useful ; 



FRANCIS I. 227 

the siege of Naples, undertaken by the French general Lau- 
trec, was protracted with obstinacy as blind and fatal as that 
which Francis had displayed at Pavia ; and at length the 
entire army was obliged to surrender to the imperialists, almost 
at discretion. 6. This contest, as well as many others, was 
attended with no other fruit than the spilling of human blood ; 
but at length the course of these numerous calamities was 
suspended by the treaty of Cambray, concluded for the two 
monarcbs by two women, the duchess of Angouleme 
and Margaret of Austria, governess of the Low Coun- . "^q 
tries. 7. Francis I. abandoned his allies, gave up his 
claim on Milan, his lordship of Artois and Flanders, and en- 
gaged to pay two millions of gold crowns for the ransom of his 
children ; Charles V., besides these advantages, reserving to 
himself the power of prosecuting at law his pretensions to 
Burgundy. Sforza had the Milanese, and by an article of a 
treaty before concluded between the pope and the emperor, 
the Medicis were to be reinstated in the government of 
Florence. The ransoming of the two French princes was 
found a difficult task in the exhausted state of the finances, 
and could not have been efi'ecled but for the generous assist- 
ance of Henry VIIL, who presented Francis with a consider- 
able sum of money. 

8. The followers of Luther, about this time, took the name 
of protestants, because they protested against an edict issued 
at Spires, prohibiting innovations in religion. They also pub- 
lished an authentic statement of their principles, drawn up by 
Philip Melancthon, the most moderate of Luther's followers; 
this important document is usually called the confession of 
Augsburg, from the place where it was written. Soon after, 
perceiving that their ruin was determined upon, the protestant 
princes entered into an alliance called the league of Smalkald, 
and applied for assistance to Francis, the inveterate enemy of 
the emperor, and Henry VIIL, who was now in open hostility 
with the pope. 

9. Charles V. did not, however, immediately proceed to 
extremities with his protestant subjects ; the necessity of check- 
ing the increasing power of the Turks, and his anxiety to se- 
cure his superiority in Italy, compelled him to temporize; and 
by the aid of those persons on whose destruction he was re- 
solved, the emperor obtained several triumphs over the Turks 
in Hungary and the Moors in Africa. Francis, during the 
peace, employed himself in improving the city of Paris, and 
indulging his taste for the fine arts, but he had not laid aside 



228 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

his ambition and thirst for revenge. From the time that he 
had signed the humiliating treaty of Cambray, he meditated 
new projects of war, and used every effort to stir up all the 
powers of Europe, but his measures did not succeed. Pope 
Clement VII., whose niece he had married to his second son 
Henry, died before any advantage could be derived from the 
alliance. Henry VIII. was too much embarrassed with the 
consequences of his divorce to engage in any hazardous enter- 
prise, and the members of the league of Smalkaid, irritated 
by Francis's conduct to the French protestants, refused him 
the least assistance. 

10. Francis had indeed acted with a violence sufRcient to 
stir up the professors of the new rehgion against him. Some 
fanatics having posted up hbels against the clergy and the 
eucharist, he ordered a solemn procession, in order to efface 
the scandal, and assisted at it himself with a torch in his 
hand ; he afterwards pronounced a vehement speech before 
the bishop of Paris, in which he said, "that if one of his 
limbs was infected with heresy, he would cut it off, and would 
sacrifice his own son if he found him guilty of that crime." 
To conclude the scene, six Lutherans were burned alive in 
the most cruel manner, being alternately let down and drawn 
up from the flames by means of a machine, until they ex- 
pired. 

11. The war between Charles and Francis was soon 
-^J,?A renewed with all its former violence ; the emperor in- 
' vaded Provence, but by the judicious measures of the 
constable Montmorency, was compelled to retreat with pre- 
cipitation. The French king summoned Charles to appear 
before the parliament as his vassal for Flanders and Artois ; 
no notice of course was taken of the summons, and the two 
fiefs were declared legally confiscated. After two years of 
desultory warfare, a truce was concluded. 12. The in- 
habitants of Ghent, dissatisfied with the heavy taxes imposed 
upon them by Charles, broke out into open rebellion and 
offered to aid Francis in the subjugation of Flanders, if he 
would grant them his protection ; but he was infatuated with 
the desire of the duchy of iVlilan, the investiture of which he 
ardently desired, and in hopes to obtain it, he betrayed the 
whole negociation to the emperor. Charles, perfectly ac- 
quainted with the character of his rival, engaged to grant him 
the object of his desires, provided that he would permit the 
emperor and his train to pass through France in his way to the 
Low Countries ; Francis readily assented ; Charles was re- 



FRANCIS I. 



229 




Charles V. and Francis I. Visiting the Tomb of St. Denis. 

ceived with the greatest pomp, remained seven days at Paris, 
where he was loaded with marks of friendship and confidence, 
and after visiting the Tomb of St. Denis in company with 
Francis, he was permitted to depart without even leaving any 
authentic testimony of his promises. Ghent was soon re- 
duced, the rebels in Flanders forced to yield themselves to the 
mercy of the emperor, but the promises made to Francis were 
forgotten. 

13. War again recommenced, Henry VIII. a second 
time embraced the cause of Charles, and France was , _\„* 
invaded by their united armies. Inevitable destruction 
would have overtaken the kingdom had the invaders acted in 
concert, but their mutual jealousies prevented them from un- 
dertaking anj'' thing of importance ; on the other hand, the 
army of the empire might have perished by famine but for 
the treachery of the king's mistress, who betrayed the coun- 
cils of her lover to Charles. A new treaty was concluded at 
Cressy, by which it was stipulated that the investiture of the 
Milanese should be given to the duke of Orleans on his mar- 
riage with the daughter or niece of the emperor. The death 
20 



230 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

of this prince soon after nullified this article, and the Milanese 
remained in the possession of Charles. The war with Henry 
VIII. continued for some time longer, but at length terms of 
accommodation were agreed to, and Henry retained posses- 
sion of Boulogne as a security for an annuity of 800,000 
crowns, to be paid him during eight years, by Francis. 

14. Neither of these princes long survived the treaty. 
,J.J Henry VIII. died in January; and Francis in the 
March following. His funeral procession was the most 
imposing ceremony that had been hitherto witnessed in France. 
The foUies and errors of Francis were pardoned for the sake 
of his magnificence and generosity ; the tears of his people 
watered his hearse, and his memory was consecrated by the 
eulogiuras of the literary men, of whom he had been ever a 
generous patron. But the bigotry of which Francis afforded 
an example, and the persecutions which he not merely 
tolerated but encouraged, were the deepest stains on his cha- 
racter. One instance will suffice. The parliament at Aix 
had issued an arret against the Protestants so very atrocious, 
that its execution was for some years suspended by the court. 
They had condemned to the flames as heretics, all the mas- 
ters of families of Merindol, at the same time giving orders to 
raze all the houses of that large market-town, and even to root 
up the trees of the neighbouring forests. The cardinal de 
Tournon persuaded Francis to have this barbarous decree put 
in execution. As soon as the court had granted its permis- 
sion, two magistrates, more deserving the name of execution- 
ers, at the head of a body of troops, proceeded to commit the 
most horrid cruelties. They massacred three thousand per- 
sons without distinction of age or sex. Merindol, with 
twenty-two other towns and villages, fell a prey to the flames. 
An act of barbarity so calculated to bring odium on the re- 
ligion in support of which it was perpetrated, that it may be 
looked on as the signal for those dreadful wars, which bigotry 
and fanaticism soon after kindled in the kingdom. 

15. Francis died in the fifty-third year of his age and the 
thirty-second of his reign ; he was succeeded by his second 
son, Henry; Francis, the eldest, having died by poison several 
years before his father. The poison was administered by an 
Italian physician named Montecuculi, at the instigation, as 
some say, of the emperor, but as others, vi^ith more pro- 
bability, assert, at the command of Catherine de Medicis, the 
wife of prince Henry. 



FRANCIS I. 



231 



Peter Castelan, who made the funeral oration of Francis 
I., declared from the pulpit that the king's pious death was 
(such at least was his conviction) an indication that, in his 
case, purgatory would be dispensed with, and that the 
monarch had passed at once into Paradise or Heaven. The 
university deemed the assertion heretical, and sent a com- 
mission of doctors to complain of the court panegyrist. " Gen- 
tlemen" said the Spaniard, John Mendoza, maitre d'hotel 
to the deceased, " you come to M. le Grand Aumonier, to 
inquire about the place in which, perhaps, the soul of the 
late king, our good master, now resides. If you wish to 
obtain any information on the subject from me, who have 
known him better than any other man in the world, I 
can- assure you that he was not of a disposition to remain 
long in any place whatever, even when he was most at his 
ease ; and, therefore, if he have been in purgatory, he would 
only rest there for a short time, and perhaps do no more 
than taste the wine as he passed through, according to his 
custom." At the bottom, however, of a sensual and capri- 
cious nature, there lay concealed, when he was not engaged 
in scenes of parade, something generous and noble, which 
renders him a distinguished object in the gallery of French 
kings. Francis had entered the thirty-third year of his reign 
when he died. He was fifty-two years and six months old. 
His son, Henry H., who succeeded him, had just attained his 
twenty-ninth year, on the day when he ascended the throne. 




Catherine de Medicia. 



232 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Henry II. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



HENRY II.— FRANCIS II. 

What trivial influences hold dominion 

O'er wise men's counsels, and the fate of empire ! 

The greatest schemes that human wit can forge, 

Or bold ambition dares to put in practice. 

Depend upon our husbanding a moment, 

And the light lasting of a woman's will ! RowE. 

1. Francis on his death-bed had given his son a 
1547 ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ &°*'^ counsel, and amongst other matters, 
" had advised him to beware of the ambition of "the 
house of Lorraine," and not to recal the constable de Mont- 
morenci, whom he had sent into banishment ; the tomb had 
scarcely closed over him, when Francis, duke d'Aumale, the 
son of Claude, duke of Guise, the most powerful of the Lor- 
raine family, was loaded with favours, and Montmorenci sum- 
moned to court. 2. Henry, hke his father, was devotedly 
attached to his favourites ; the person by whom he was most 



HENRY II. 233 

influenced was Diana of Poictiers, a lady neither very young 
nor very handsome, yet whose arts and accompHshments 
enabled her to maintain a complete supremacy over the king's 
affections. This had, however, one beneficial effect, it 
checked the influence of the queen, Catherine de Medicis, a 
woman capable of every crime, and not possessed of a single 
virtue. 3. The situation of Europe was at the moment of 
Henry's accession very critical ; the Protestants in Germany, 
weakened by the defection of Maurice of Saxony, were placed 
almost at the mercy of the emperor ; the council of Trent, 
which had been for some time assembled, were strenuously 
labouring to restore the papal supremacy ; in England, the 
guardians of young Edward were employed in endeavouring 
to aggrandize themselves, regardless of the honour or good of 
the country ; the neighbouring state of Scotland was similarly 
distracted during the minority of its infant sovereign, the un- 
fortunate Mary, and there seemed to be no means left by 
which the exorbitant power of the house of Austria could be 
checked. 

4. But at the very moment when every thing seemed 
to promise Charles the quiet possession of all his acqui- , ^ko 
sitions, a sudden and unexpected revolution overthrew 
the fabric which he had spent so many years in erecting. 
Maurice of Saxony, foreseeing the utter ruin which impended 
over the Protestant religion and the liberties of Germany, 
secretly prepared a league against the emperor, and secured 
the assistance of the French king. So well were all his pro- 
ceedings concealed, that he was commissioned by the emperor 
to conduct the siege of Magdeburg, at the very time that he 
was making preparations for the war. Magdeburg surren- 
dered on conditions apparently the most favourable to the 
interests and wishes of Charles, but measures were at the same 
time privately taken to make all these stipulations ineffectual. 
At length when every thing was ripe for action, Maurice pub- 
lished a manifesto calculated to gain men of every party. He 
declared that his design was to secure the Protestant religion, 
to maintain the Hberties of Germany, and to deliver the land- 
grave of Hesse from his unjust confinement. So rapid were 
his movements, that the emperor narrowly escaped being 
made a prisoner at Inspruck, and was obhged, notwithstanding 
his illness, to be conveyed across the Alps in a litter during a 
heavy storm of wind and rain. Henry, on the other side, as- 
sumed the title of Protector of the Germanic liberties, and 
marched his troops into Lorraine, where he scarcely met with 
20* 



234 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

any resistance. Toul, Verdun, and Metz, which had been 
long considered the bulwarks of the empire on that side, sur- 
rendered, and have ever since remained in possession of the 
French. 

5. Charles finding himself destitute of men and money, was 
obliged to submit to the demands of the German princes ; a 
treaty was concluded at Passaw, by which the religious liberty 
of the Protestants, and the independence of the German states 
was secured ; but no mention was made of the king of France, 
who experienced the treatment that foreign princes generally 
meet when they interfere in a civil war. 6. The emperor, 
eager to regain the frontier towns from the French, hasted to 
lay siege to Mentz, whose dilapidated fortifications made him 
expect an easy conquest. But the duke of Guise, assisted by 
several of the young nobihty, who came as volunteers from 
every part of France, made such an excellent defence, that 
Charles was obliged to raise the siege. So much had his 
troops suffered from cold and famine, that several entire battal- 
ions surrendered to the duke of Guise, who harassed the 
retreat, without firing a shot. With humanity the more credit- 
able as it was unusual at the period, the duke of Guise treated 
his prisoners with the greatest humanity. The next year 
Charles was more successful at the siege of Tourenne, but 
having taken the place by assauh, he put the entire garrison 
to the sword, and so effectually destroyed the town, that its 
very ruins have perished. 

7. The fatigues and disappointments which Charles 
, J(.J had undergone, produced an injurious effect both on 
his mental and bodily health ; the death of his mother, 
to whom he was ardently attached, increased his weariness of 
the world ; he resolved to retire from the busy stage of life, 
where he had so long played a conspicuous part, and spend 
the remainder of his life in seclusion. He resigned the crown 
of Spain to his son, Philip 11. , an ambitious, hypocritical bigot, 
who had been lately married to the English queen, Mary, a 
princess every way worthy of him. In the following year, 
Charles gave up the empire to his brother Ferdinand, and 
retired into a monastery in Spain. 8. His last pubhc act 
was the conclusion of a truce with the French, in order to 
secure the peaceable commencement of his son's reign. But 
this suspension of arms did not long continue ; pope Paul IV., 
anxious to extend the dominions of the holy see, entreated 
Henry to aid him in expelling the Spaniards from Italy, 
promising that he would give him the investiture of the king- 



HENRY II. 235 

dom of Naples as a reward. The experience of the last cen- 
tury ought to have convinced the French of the perfidy of the 
Italian princes, and the uncertainty of any possessions in that 
country ; but the monarchs were infatuated with the desire of 
dominions beyond the Alps, and to obtain transitory glory, 
neglected permanent advantages. 9. The duke of Guise led 
an array into Italy, but his success did not answer his expec- 
tations ; pride and presumption prompted him to efforts which 
produced nothing but reverses, and he would have entirely 
lost his brilliant reputation, had not greater disasters at home 
recalled him to a new scene. 

10. While the duke of Guise was making fruitless attacks 
on the kingdom of Naples, Philip, aided by the English, had 
sent a numerous army, commanded by the duke of Savoy, to 
invade France. The invaders laid siege to St. Q,uentin, 
which was gallantly defended by the admiral Coligny, nephew 
to the constable Montmorenci. But as the garrison was in- 
adequate to the defence of the place, the constable, conscious 
of its importance, advanced to its relief, and after experiencing 
considerable difficulties, succeeded in throwing a small garri- 
son into the town. Having performed this duty, he would 
gladly have retreated without coming to an engagement, but 
the Spaniards pursued him with so much celerity, that he was 
obliged to fight without having time to put his men in order 
of battle. The valour of the French kept the fate of the day 
undecided for four hours, but they were finally defeated with 
the loss of their baggage, artillery, and the greater part of their 
army. Four thousand men, of whom six hundred were gen- 
tlemen, fell ; the constable with a great number of the nobility 
were made prisoners ; France had not experienced so calami- 
tous a defeat since the days of Cre§y and Azincourt. 

11. The ignorance and obstinacy of Philip prevented him 
from obtaining any decisive advantages from this splendid 
victory. Instead of advancing against Paris, he ordered the 
duke of Savoy to continue the siege of St. Quenlin. Its gov- 
ernor, Coligny, maintained the town against the victorious 
army for three weeks longer, and during that time, Henry 
had made such preparations as enabled him to set the Span- 
iards at defiance. 12. Never did France exhibit a more 
patriotic spirit ; the nobility assembled from every quarter to 
defend the kingdom ; the cities and towns subscribed large 
sums to pay the troops, and the peasants hastily formed them- 
selves into a rude militia to check the advance of the invaders. 
13. The return of the duke of Guise still further tended to 



236 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

elevate the spirits of the French ; his popularity does not ap- 
pear to have been destroyed by his misconduct in Italy ; and 
his first enterprise after his return completely effaced the 
memory of his former errors. Calais, the last remnant of the 
conquests of Edward III., had remained in the possession of 
the English during more than two centuries. Its garrison was 
always diminished during the winter, when it was supposed 
to be secure from the dangers of a siege. The duke of Guise 
J rj came before it while thus unprepared, and after a 

,_lrj' weak defence of only eight days, the town was sur- 

■ rendered. The popularity of this success added 

greatly to the power of the duke of Guise, which was still 

further strengthened in the following year, by the marriage of 

the dauphin to his niece Mary, the young queen of Scotland. 

14. In the following year a treaty was concluded at Cha- 
teau-Cambresis, between Philip and Henry, in which the 
English queen Elizabeth was included. To strengthen the 
union it was agreed that Philip should marry the eldest 
daughter of Henry, and that his sister should be united to the 
duke of Savoy. 15. The most brilliant preparations were 
made for the celebration of these nuptials, and tournaments 
(which were not yet out of fashion) were celebrated at Paris. 
The king, who excelled in these chivalrous exercises, ran 
several courses with great success ; but at length, while tilting 
with the count of Montgomery, a splinter of the lance entered 
his eye, and he fell without sense or motion to the ground. 
He survived, in a state of insensibiUty for eleven days, and 
then expired, in the forty-first year of his age and the thir- 
teenth of his reign. 

16. The persecution of the protestants was rigorously con- 
tinued during this entire reign. They were burned alive 
without mercy, the judges were prohibited from alleviating the 
severity of the sentence ; those who petitioned in their favour, 
were themselves subjected to the penalties of heresy ; and 
some members of the parliament were sent to prison for re- 
monstrating against the severity of these edicts. The family 
of Lorraine, with the duke of Guise at their head, were the 
principal patrons of persecution ; but in spite of their efforts 
the number of protestants increased every day. 

17. Francis II. was but sixteen years old at the time 

-. _Vq of his father's death ; feeble both in body and mind, 

he was incapable of managing the affairs of the state, 

the administration of the government devolved in consequence 

on the duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine, uncles to 



FRANCIS II. 



237 




Francis II. 



the queen. Catherine de Medicis, 
the king's mother, anxious to obtain 
the management of affairs, adroitly 
increased the jealousies that sub- 
sisted between the families of Lor- 
raine and Bourbon, while the con- 
stable Montmorenci sought to re- 
cover the authority which he had 
possessed in the former reign. 18. 
Religion was another source of dis- 
cord, Coligni and d'Andelot, ne- 
phews of the constable, and the 
prince of Conde, the youngest of 
the Bourbon princes, were steady 
protestants ; but the queen, the con- 
stable, and the entire Lorraine 
family, were bitter persecutors of 
all who professed the principles of 
the reformation. The head of the 
house of Bourbon was first prince 
of the blood, and king of Navarre, but the latter was little 
more than a nominal title, as the greater part of Navarre had 
been seized by the Spaniards in 1513, and nothing left to its 
former possessors but a few districts east of the Pyrenees. 
The party of the duke of Guise, supported by the queen and 
the clergy, triumphed over the friends of the Bourbons ; they 
renewed the persecutions of the former reign with greater 
severity, and established tribunals called Les chamhres ar^ 
denies, because they condemned protestants to flames. 

19. These atrocities roused the persecuted to resistance, a 
conspiracy was formed to destroy the family of Guise, and 
place all the authority of the state in the hands of the Bour- 
bons ; but all who shared in the plot were sworn to attempt 
nothing against the king, the two queens, and the princes. 
By the imprudence of La Renaudie, one of the leaders, the 
whole plot was discovered ; the court retired to Amboise oa 
the Loire, the duke of Guise was appointed lieutenant-general 
of the kingdom, and detachments of soldiers stationed on the 
several roads, arrested the parties of conspirators who were 
proceeding to the appointed place of rendezvous. 20, These 
unfortunate men were mercilessly butchered, twelve hundred 
were put to death in Amboise by the most cruel tortures, while 
Catherine de Medicis and the ladies of the court witnessed 
their sufferings as a most gratifying spectacle. The prince of 



238 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Conde was more thau suspected of having had a share in this 
conspiracy, but he defended himself with so much eloquence 
and abiUty before the council that he was set at liberty. 

21. Soon after these transactions, the admiral Coligny had 
the courage to present a memorial in favour of the protestants, 
to the king in council. A debate ensued, in which two 
bishops, John de Montluc and Charles de Marsilac, strenu- 
ously advocated the cause of the petitioners, asserting that the 
religious schism was not so much attributable to the preaching 
of the reformers as to the tyranny of the pontiffs and ignorance 
of the clergy. The result of this council was a convocation 
of the states-general at Orleans. 22. The king of Navarre 
and the prince of Conde were summoned to attend, and a 
solemn pledge for their safety was given. They had, how- 
ever, scarcely arrived when they were arrested and thrown 
into prison. They had formed a new conspiracy against the 
Guises, which had been betrayed by one of their agents, and 
their destruction was fully determined. The prince of Conde 
refused to plead before the commissioners appointed to con- 
duct his trial, and appealed to the court of peers. Sentence 
of death was passed against him, but the chancellor de 
I'Hopital, the only honest minister in the court of France, 
exerted himself to save the prince, and interposed so many 
delays that he eventually succeeded ; for while Conde was 
thus on the brink of destruction, the king was suddenly seized 
with an abscess in the head, and died after an illness of a few 
days. This unexpected event caused an immediate change in 
the politics of all parties ; Catherine de Medicis set the prince 
of Conde at liberty, because she wished to secure the aid of 
the Bourbons in checking the power of the house of Lor- 
raine. 

23. Francis was not quite eighteen months upon the throne, 
and had just attained his seventeenth year at the time of his 
death. His remains were treated with the greatest neglect, 
so intent were the queen-mother and the rival princes to secure 
their own power. His unfortunate consort, Mary, queen of 
Scots, was compelled to quit the brilliant court of France and 
return to her native country. As if foreseeing the calamities 
which awaited her at home, she gazed on the receding coast 
of France with tearful eyes, nor could she be persuaded to 
quit the deck of the vessel until night interrupted her view. 
It is said that Elizabeth, irritated with Mary for having claimed 
the crown of England, intended to intercept her return, and 
that she only escaped by accident. 



FRANCIS II. 



239 



Francis II. died from an abscess of the ear, at the age of 
seventeen years and ten months, after reigning a year and a 
half. His illness had rapidly increased while he was making 
a beard; and some reported that his barber, who was 
secretly a Calvinist, uneasy on the subject of a profession 
of faith, which all the people in the chateau were required 
to sign, had, while shaving him, touched the abscess with a 
poisoned razor. The speech of Picard would seem to indi- 
cate that he was no stranger to the crime, if one had been 
committed; or at all events that he was soon informed of 
what had taken place. The Huguenots did not dissemble 
the joy felt on the occasion of this death. Their ministers, 
in their public preachings, scrupled not to declare that the 
fate of the king was an instance of the justice of God, di- 
rected against the enemies of the gospel [^December, 1560.] 




The tilting between Henry II. and the Count of Montgomery. 



240 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Charles IX. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



CHARLES IX. 



Oh shame to religion! when God's holy word 

Is proclaimed by the trump and confirmed by the sword. 

CcifNINGHAM. 

1. The hopes entertained by the French people that 
,J^^ the late king, on attaining the years of discretion, 
' would have put an end to the factions by which the 
country was distracted, were frustrated by his premature 
death ; and France was now in a worse condition than it had 
been at the decease of Henry II. The houses of Lorraine 
and Bourbon were at the heads of the Catholic and Protestant 
parties : they were bitterly exasperated against each other, 
not merely on account of religious differences, but also in con- 
sequence of the late attempts against the life of the prince of 
Conde. Catharine de Medicis, intent on usurping the power 



CHARLES IX. 241 

of the state, intrigued with, and betrayed both parties, dealing 
out treachery with the most perfect impartiality. The duke 
p{ Guise, not having the same claim on power that he pos- 
sessed during the former reign, entered into alliance with the 
constable Montmorenci and the marshal St. Andre, an union 
which was very aptly designated the triumvirate. 2. The 
prince of Conde and the admiral Coligny were the leaders of 
the Protestant party, but were weakened by the defection of 
the king of Navarre, who, with his characteristic weakness, 
joined the party of his most bitter enemies. Catharine saw 
that under these circumstances the duke of Guise would be 
her most formidable opponent, and as a counterpoise she pro- 
cured a formal acquittal of the prince of Conde from the states, 
and published an edict in favour of toleration. The zealous 
catholics of the kingdom look the alarm ; they believed that 
their church was in danger, and every where prepared to de- 
fend their faith by force of arms. The protestants on the other 
side, confiding in the protection of the court, re-opened their 
churches, and publicly celebrated the reformed worship. 

3. When the minds of two parties are thus inflamed, 
a small spark will suiEce to produce a conflagration, -t^cn 
The duke of Guise, while coming to Paris, happened 
to pass on the road a congregation of Hugonots worshipping 
their God in a barn. Some of his servants insulted the pro- 
testant assembly, a scuffle took place in which many were 
wounded on both sides, and some of the protestants killed. 
This event, which both parties misrepresented, was the signal 
of civil war. 4. The duke of Guise and his friends took pos- 
session of the person of the king and brought him by force to 
Paris, where the citizens were all in their interest. Catherine, 
who had fallen into the usual error of all intriguing persons, 
that of using too much dissimulation, was obliged to follow in 
her son's train. The prince of Conde proceeded to Orleans 
and put himself at the head of the protestants, a party inferior 
in number, but possessing that species of sullen enthusiasm 
which cannot be subdued by defeat, or cooled by misfortune. 
5. The first important enterprise was the siege of Rouen, the 
principal support of the protestant cause in Normandy ; after 
a gallant defence it was taken by assault, and for eight days 
given up to be plundered at the mercy of a bigoted and savage 
soldiery. Its governor, the count de Montgomery, whom 
Catharine hated for having accidentally killed her husband, 
made his escape with some difficulty to Havre. 6. In the 
assault, the king of Navarre received a wound which his de- 
21 Q 



242 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

bauchery rendered fatal ; and died as he had lived, " halting 
between two opinions," for he received the sacrament from a 
catholic minister, and immediately afterwards declared that if 
he recovered he would become a champion of protestantism. 
His dying recommendation to his wife and son was, to keep 
away from the court, and to be always on their guard against 
the treachery of Catharine and the Guises. 

7. The Hugonots soon after experienced a second calamity ; 
they waited for their enemies at St. Dreux, in Normandy, 
and in the early part of the engagement, slew St. Andre, took 
Montmorenci prisoner, and put an entire Aving of the enemy 
to flight; but the fortune of the day soon changed, the pro- 
estants were every where repulsed, the prince of Conde taken 
(Orisoner, and their entire army only saved from destruction by 
the able manner in which the admiral Coligny covered the 
retreat. 8. Inspired by this victory the duke of Guise laid 
siege to Orleans, which was on the point of being captured, 
when the duke received a wound in the shoulder from a pistol 
fired by a person named Poltrot, who had been lying in wait 
for him. The assassin was arrested, and being put on the 
rack, declared that he had been instigated to make the attempt 
by Coligny. But little credit is due to an accusation obtained 
by torture, and it is worthy of notice that when Coligny de- 
manded a truce, in order that he might be confronted with 
Poltrot, he met with a peremptory refusal. 9. The duke only 
survived six days : before his death he exhorted Catherine to 
lay aside her schemes of persecution, and make peace with 
the Hugonots. He left behind him three sons, of whom the 
eldest became duke of Guise ; the second cardinal of Guise, 
and the third duke of Mayence ; his only daughter was mar- 
ried to the duke de Montpensier. He appears to have been a 
nobleman possessed of many good qualities, which ambition 
and bigotry perverted to his own destruction and that of his 
country. 

10. During this period, Catharine was diligently employed 
in strengthening her authority, and, by alternately holding out 
hopes to the two gi-eat parties which divided the kingdom, 
she rendered both subservient to the purposes of her ambition ; 
under pretence of an interview with her daughter the queen 
of Spain, she held a conference at Bayonne with the duke of 
Alva, the most cruel persecutor of the reformed religion, and 
at the same time pretended to the protestant princes that she 
was anxious to secure the free toleration of their faith. The 
subsequent cruelties of Alva, when he assumed the govern- 



CHARLES IX. 243 

ment of Flanders, greatly alarmed the protestants ; the prince 
of Conde and the admiral Coligny, believing that their lives 
were in danger, formed a plan for surprising the court at 
Meaux, and would have succeeded, had not their march been 
unaccountably delayed until Catharine and her son had time 
to escape. 

11. A second civil war hegan ; the prince of Conde, far 
from being disconcerted by his failure at Meaux, surprised 
the town of St. Denys and set fire to twenty-four windmills 
in sight of the walls of Paris. Though his forces scarcely ex- 
ceeded three thousand men, he held the city blockaded for six 
weeks, and then fearlessly gave battle to the constable Mont- 
morenci, who was marching to its relief with about twenty 
thousand soldiers. The battle lasted three hours ; it ended in 
the defeat of the Hugonots, but their adversaries had not much 
reason to boast of their victory, having lost their leader Mont- 
morenci and a great number of their bravest troops. The 
defeat of the insurgents was not so pleasing to Catharine as 
the death of the constable ; she had now seen every person 
removed who could dispute her authority, and she was ena- 
bled to gratify the ambition of her favourite son Henry by 
having him appointed to the command of all the royal forces, 
with the title of the king's lieutenant-general. But Henry of 
Anjou was not able to compete with Conde ; the protestants, 
though abandoned by their allies, made so vigorous a resist- 
ance, that the court consented to grant them peace on favour- 
able conditions. 

12. An iniquitous attempt to seize the admiral and Conde 
led to the third civil war; they narrowly escaped from their 
pursuers, and fled to Rochelle, whither they were followed by 
the whole force of the protestants, in spite of the resistance of 
the royal troops. The queen of Navarre, accompanied by 
her son the prince of Beam, afterwards Henry IV.' of France, 
joined the revolters, and they were further strengthened by 
queen Elizabeth of England, who sent Conde a sum of money 
and a considerable supply of ammunition and artillery. The 
duke of Anjou on the other side took the field with a power- 
ful force, commanded by the best generals of the age. An 
engagement soon took place at Jarnae, in which the protest- 
ants were routed, and their leader, Conde, after surrendering 
himself a prisoner, was murdered in cold blood. The admiral 
made an excellent retreat, Jane of Navarre encouraged the 
protestants not to despair, and induced them to choose as their 
leaders her son the prince of Beam, and Henry, the son of 



244 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

their late genera] Conde. Though again defeated at Moncar- 
tour, the protestants maintained so bold an aspect, that the 
court again had recourse to negocialion, and granted all the 
aemands of the Hugonot leaders. 

13. The events which followed have been so fiercely con- 
troverted, and so foully misrepresented by rival parties, that it 
is not easy to determine the truth from the contradictory state- 
ments. In the following account, the authorities from which 
the narrative is deduced, are the contemporary memoirs of 
persons who were actors in the scenes, and strict attention has 
been paid to the distinction between the facts which they saw, 
and the conjectures which they formed. Charles, who was 
now about twenty years of age, was, or affected to be, weary 
of the state of pupilage in which he was kept by his mother, 
and jealous of the preference which she showed for her fa- 
vourite son, Henry of Anjou. He averred that the merit of 
the peace was his own, and that he had made it, in spite of the 
queen-mother, the Spaniards, and the Guises. His directipns 
respecting the execution of the treaty were more favourable to 
the protestants than the articles themselves ; and, finally, he 
intimated his design of giving his sister in marriage to the 
prince of Beam, threatening the duke of Guise with death 
for daring to aspire to the hand of that princess. 

14. The difficulty is to determine whether Charles was sin- 
cere in this fine of conduct, or whether he was induced by his 
mother to adopt a course of dissimulation unparalleled in the 
annals of human wickedness. The memoirs of his brother 
and sister attest his sincerity, which is rendered still more pro- 
bable by the weakness of his character and the violence of 
his passions ; qualities quite inconsistent with the astonishing 
power of hypocrisy ascribed to him by the contrary supposi. 
tion. He was informed that the admiral was sending some 
assistance to the oppressed protestants, and Charles not only 
declared his approbation of the proceeding, but promised to 
aid the enterprise, and actually commenced preparations for 
the purpose. He finally invited the admiral to court, and 
treated him with the greatest confidence and kindness. 

15. Henry of Anjou, afterwards Henry HI. of France, de- 
clares that he and his mother were greatly alarmed by the 
king's avowed determination to make the admiral Coligny his 
principal adviser. Nor were these alarms groundless ; a pro- 
ject had been formed by some influential persons for changing 
the succession to the crown, and recognising Francis, duke of 
Alen^on, as heir to Charles, instead of Henry, duke of Anjou, 



CHARLES IX. 245 

and several of the protestant leaders openly favoured the pro- 
ject. It would be impossible indeed to describe the various 
intrigues which agitated the courts both of France and Na- 
varre when they met in Blois to arrange the terms of union 
between the princess Margaret and Henry of Navarre. 

16. Early in the negociations Jane, queen of Navarre, died ; 
many suspected that she was poisoned by the agency of Ca- 
tharine de Medicis, who dreaded a rival possessing so much 
talent, discretion, and influence, but the examination of the 
body refuted this suspicion, and the protestants showed that 
they did not believe the charge by continuing to frequent the 
court and urge forward the preparations for the mar- 
riage. On the 17th of August, Henry of Navarre, ip-U-g 
the founder of the Bourbon dynasty, was affianced to 
the princess Margaret, but she was so disinclined to the match 
that she refused to sign the contract ; and when the marriage 
ceremony was performed she would not speak, but the king 
her brother forced her to nod her head, which was taken as a 
sign of consent. The marriage took place on a Monday, 
Avhich, with the three following days, was spent in revelry and 
rejoicing. 17. On Friday the 22d of August, as the admiral 
was walking from the court to his lodgings, he received a shot 
from a window in the street, which wounded him severely in 
the left arm. He immediately said, " Behold the fruits of my 
reconciliation with the duke of Guise." In the evening the 
king visited Coligni and said, " Though it is you who are 
wounded, it is I who suffer !" At the same time Charles 
vowed that he would take vengeance on the assassins. 

18. The admiral suspected that his murder had been 
planned by the duke of Guise, but there is abundant evidence 
to prove that the crime was planned by Henry of Anjou and 
the queen-mother, who were both afraid of the political in- 
fluence which the admiral had acquired, and alarmed, lest he 
should persuade the king to alter the succession in favour of 
the duke of Alen^on. Their, failure in the murder increased 
their peril ; the protestants had gained evidence implicating 
the duke of Anjou, and they imprudently vented their rage 
against him and his mother, vaunting that the king was of 
their party. 19. Catherine de Medicis, under these circum- 
stances, held a cabinet council, which was attended by the 
following persons : Henry, duke of Anjou, afterwards king of 
Poland and France ; Gonzagua, duke of Nevers ; Henry of 
Angouleme, grand prior of France, and natural brother to the 
king ; the marshal de Tavannes, and the count de Retz. 20. 
21* 



246 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

After a brief debate it was resolved to massacre all the chiefs 
of the protestant party, and it was with some difficulty that 
the more merciful or more prudent of the party obtained an 
exception in favour of the king of Navarre and the prince of 
Conde. It was further resolved, that the execution of this 
atrocious plot should be entrusted to the duke of Guise ; that 
the guards should be placed under arms, that the city mihtia 
should be assembled by its officers, and that the work of de- 
struction should commence when a signal was given by ring- 
ing a bell at the Louvre. 

21. These resolutions were adopted late on Saturday, and 
were communicated to the young king by his mother. The 
unfortunate Charles shrunk with horror from the atrocity pro- 
posed to him, but the persuasions of his mother, the dread of 
a new civil war, and the hopes of reigning without control 
prevailed ; he passed from one extreme to the other, and ex- 
claimed, " If any are to die, let there not be one left to re- 
proach me with breach of faith." But his mother and bro- 
ther were still so much afraid of his hesitating or altering his 
mind, that they gave the signal before midnight, the hour 
originally appointed. 

32. Scarcely had the bell sounded when the duke of Guise, 
accompanied by some nobles of his party, and a detachment 
of Swiss guards, attacked the house of the admiral Coligni, 
and soon forced an entrance. Awakened by the noise, the 
admiral sprung from his bed, and perceiving that his life was 
principally sought, commanded his attendants to make their 
escape while he faced the assassins. These soon rushed into 
his room ; the aged hero fell under a multitude of wounds ; 
and his body, after having been treated with savage indignity 
by the duke of Guise, was suspended from a gibbet. Coligni's 
attendants were slaughtered as they attempted to escape over 
the tops of the houses, and amongst the victims was the gal- 
lant Teligny, son-in-law of the murdered admiral. 23. In 
the Louvre itself the gentlemen in waiting on the king of 
Navarre and the prince of Conde, were butchered in the 
king's presence ; two of them, wounded and bleeding, sought 
shelter in the bed-chamber of the young queen of Navarre, 
and were pursued thither by the assassins. 24. The princess 
herself had been kept in ignorance of the plot, and was in 
some danger of falling by the random blows of the pursuers ; 
she hurried to her mother's chamber, followed by other shriek- 
ing victims, beseeching her pity and claiming her protection. 
But she was helpless, and in momentary dread that the lives 



CHARLES IX. 247 

of herself and her husband would be sacrificed with the 
rest. 

25. We must now direct our attention to the other incidents 
of this fearful night. The infuriate populace filled every part 
of the city with corpses ; old and young, male and female, 
rich and poor, all who were Hugonots, or suspected of favour- 
ing their principles, were mercilessly slaughtered. The aged, 
borne down by the decrepitude of years, were extended on the 
same pile with the infant that had scarcely seen the light; 
whole families lay exposed together on the same bloody couch ; 
and the monsters who conducted this butchery, added insults 
to the dead and dying which will not bear to be recorded. 26. 
From the palace windows, Catharine beheld with a fiendish 
joy the progress of the murderers. Her son having recovered 
from his indecision, had now gone into the opposite extreme, 
and resolved himself to bear a share in the massacres ; he 
posted himself with a musket at one of the windows facing 
the Seine, and fired on those who endeavoured to escape by 
swimming across the river. 27. The protestants in the suburbs 
hearing the shouts in the city, supposed that their brethren had 
been attacked by the faction of the duke of Guise, and resolved 
to go and solicit the protection of the king, whom they still 
beheved their friend. Fortunately, they could not obtain im- 
mediate admission at the gates ; during the delay, a wounded 
fugitive acquainted them with the real state of affairs, and they 
had time to make their escape before the arrival of the soldiers 
sent for their destruction. 

28. The massacre continued eight days with scarce any in- 
termission. Many Catholics were destroyed in the indiscri- 
minate slaughter. " It was heresy to possess wealth, to hold 
an envied office, to have a personal enemy, or an avaricious 
heir." At length, when more than five thousand had been 
slain, the murderers ceased their labours from actual weari- 
ness. 29. The young king of Navarre and the prince of 
Conde were spared, but were compelled to conform to the Ca- 
tholic religion. The king had the honour of procuring their 
conversion ; his arguments w^ere, it must be confessed, rather 
difficult to be resisted, since they consisted only of three em- 
phatic words, " the mass, the bustille, or death.'''' 

30. Orders were sent to commence a similar massacre in 
the provinces. Some governors obeyed, but others immortal- 
ized their names by a spirited refusal. The viscount d'Orthe, 
governor of Bayonne, wrote to the court that "the king had 
many brave soldiers in that garrison, but not a single execu- 



248 HISTORY OF PRANCE. 

tioner." The bishop of Lisieux acted in a manner worthy of 
his dignity and Christian character. When the commandant 
had exhibited to him the orders of the court, "You shall not 
execute them," he replied ; " those whom you wish to mur- 
der are the sheep entrusted to my charge ; they have strayed, 
indeed, but I am daily endeavouring to bring them back to the 
fold. The gospel does not command the shepherd to massacre 
his charge ; I read there, on the contrarj'', that he should lay 
down his life for theirs." 

31. It had been originally the intention of Catharine and 
Charles to throw the entire blame of this atrocious proceeding 
on the duke of Guise ; but when Guise and his party refused 
to accept such a tremendous responsibihly, they changed their 
mind, and glorying in their wickedness, ordered a medal to be 
struck in commemoration of the event, with the motto, Pietas 
armavit justitiam, " Piety has armed justice." 32. At Rome 
and in Spain, thanksgivings were offered up for this triumph 
of the faith, and Pope Gregory XIII. ordered it to be cele- 
brated by a jubilee ! In every other part of Europe it was 
regarded with just detestation, and the massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew, as it was named from the day of its perpetration, 
made the name of France odious in every land where the in- 
quisition was not established. 33. In concluding this painful 
narrative, it may be remarked that every one of the actors in 
the horrid tragedy seem to have been overtaken by divine 
vengeance. The duke of Guise was assassinated by the com- 
mand of his partner in guilt, the duke of Anjou, afterwards 
Henry III. Henry met the same fate on the very spot where 
he had first joined in the conspiracy, the cardinal of Lorraine 
died raving mad, Catharine de Medicis met a worse fate, she 
lived on to an unhonoured old age, imprisoned by her favourite 
son, deserted by all her former friends, tormented by the pangs 
of disappointed ambition, and still more by the consciousness 
that she was the object of universal scorn. 

34, Notwithstanding the share that Charles had in the mas- 
sacre, his subsequent remorse entitles him to our pity, and ren- 
ders it probable that he was the involuntary agent of his mo- 
ther through the entire transaction. Immediately after it, he 
had boasted that " he should now enjoy peace," but peace was 
ever after a stranger to his bosom. The visions of a troubled 
conscience haunted his pillow, a terrible disease that caused 
blood to issue from every pore of his body, rendered his life 
miserable, and he had every day more reason to believe that 
his infamous mother was inclined to hasten his death in ordei 



CHARLES IX. 249 

to procure the crown for her favourite son the duke of Anjou. 
35. To these calamities was added a civil war, which burst 
forth with new violence. The Hugonots, i^iignant at the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew, took up arras with a firm reso- 
lution never to lay them down until they were secured in the 
free profession of their religion : they made Rochelle tlie capi- 
tal of their league, and chose as their leaders the king of Na- 
varre and the prince of Conde, who had escaped from the 
Louvre, and again embraced that religion which they had 
only resigned through terror. The duke of Anjou was ap- 
pointed by Catharine to conduct the royal army, much against 
the will of Charles, who viewed his brother with just suspi- 
cion. 36. The king's forces being far superior to the Protest- 
ants in number, were enabled to undertake the siege of Ro- 
chelle. The inhabitants of the town made a gallant resistance, 
they valiantly repelled the assaults of the besiegers, and en- 
dured with patience the severest extremities of famine. 37. 
Henry of Anjou was at length wearied of the protracted siege, 
and besides, received an account of his election to the, 
crown of Poland. Under these circumstances, he con- , -'^.-^ 
eluded a treaty with the Protestants on the most favour- 
able conditions, and returned to Paris. 38. He did not, how- 
ever, on his arrival display any great alacrity to visit his new 
kingdom. Love or ambition made him linger at court, until 
Charles, becoming hourly more jealous of his designs, threat- 
ened to proceed to violence. Catharine then interfered ; she 
desired her son to depart for Poland, adding that his delay 
there would not be long, and Henry at length set out, to the 
great gratification of the king. 

39. Catharine was now the real sovereign of France, but 
the use she made of her power provoked the hostility of all 
parties. Charles was eager to shake off her authority, but his 
mind and body were so enfeebled by disease, that he was un- 
equal to the exertion. The Hugonots looked on her as an in- 
carnate fiend, and the Catholics suspected her sincerity. To 
add to the distraction of the kingdom, a third faction now 
sprung up, who called themselves the politicians. They pro- 
fessed themselves indifferent to the religious disputes, but de- 
clared that their object was to reform the state, humble the 
Guises, exclude the queen from the administration, and banish 
all Italians from the kingdom. The Montmorencis were the 
first who formed this design, in which they were joined by 
the duke of Aleneon the king's brother, and by all the leaders 
of the Protestant party. 40. A new war was just comraenc- 



250 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

ing, when Charles concluded his miserable career in 
-. ^1 the twenty-fourth year of his age and the fourteenth 
* of his reign. His last act was to appoint his mother 
regent until the return of his brother from Poland. Catharine 
is said to have obtained this appointment from him with great 
difficulty, and to have been bitterly reproached by him for all 
the crimes that he had committed by her instigation. 

41. Nature had gifted Charles with a fine form, talents 
above mediocrity, and a good disposition ; but his mother, 
intent only on acquiring power, had designedly corrupted his 
education, and early instructed him in every species of vice. 
He was so accustomed to the absurd vice of swearing, that 
oaths formed the ordinary staple of his conversation. His 
temper was violent and unregulated, his manners coarse and 
boorish, his amusements disgraceful and infamous. To coin 
false money, to play such practical jokes as the most riotous 
school-boy would be ashamed to own, were the favourite pas- 
times of this sovereign. But as he grew up, he discovered 
his errors when too late ; just as he was about to atone for 
them by commencing a new mode of life, death arrested him 
in the midst of his imperfect resolutions. His last hours were 
disturbed by remorse for the massacre of St. Bartholomew ; 
with his latest breath he declared how agonizing was the re- 
membrance of the event, and asserted that he had been forced 
to sanction it by his mother. 

Charles IX. was a young man of lofty figure, somewhat 
courbe (the back inclined inwards,) a pale complexion, and 
he had a habit of carrying his head a little on one side. He 
was a good cavalier, a great hunter, a brilliant fencer, and 
was so fond of violent exercises, that he forged several 
casques and cuirasses with his own hands. He had com- 
posed a book on sexual enjoyments, which Brantome highly 
eulogizes, and his verses to Ronsard have had some cele- 
brity. His sickly temperament had a bad influence on the 
events of his reign. The explanation of St. Bartholomew 
is certainly not to be found in religious passion, nor in poli- 
tical interest. Physiologists think it may be traced to the 
bile from which the king suffered. History, perhaps, will 
find it in the influence of all combined. 

After so many rude convulsions, it might have been hoped 
that a new reign would have brought some repose to France. 
Such was not the case. Still panting for breath, as she was 
from the last struggle, in which she had been engaged during 



CHARLES IX. 251 

the long period of fifteen years, the fifteen years which were 
to follow proved equally stormy. 

While Charles IX. breathed his last in agony, his brother, 
Henry, king of Poland, but indifferently at his ease, remained 
a foreigner in his kingdom, indulging carelessly in pleasure, 
and badly disguising the disgust inspired by all around him, 
he seemed to live but in the hope of seeing St. Germain and 
the Louvre shortly. Catherine kept her favourite son duly 
informed of the progress of the king's malady, and on his 
death he was with all speed informed of the event. In a 
secret committee, he suddenly resolved on abdicating the 
crown of Poland, and concerting with his attendants the 
means of escaping, without slander, from the fidelity of the 
Poles. One night, courtiers and king, after the fashion of 
discontented schoolboys, fled with all speed to the frontier, 
and there, believing themselves safe, commenced a triumphal 
march by Vienna, the German states, Italy, and Turin, and 
arrived in France to assist in new revolutions, and to act 
their parts in the civil discords of the nation [1575.] 




The Dukes of Guise. 



252 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Henry III. and his Q.ueen. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



HENRY III. 



The baffled prince in honour's flattering bloom 
Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom. ; 
His foes' derision and his subjects' blame ; 
And steals to death from anguish and from shame. 

JoExsoir. 

1. The death of Charles without heirs gave the 
, ly^ throne of France to Henry III., ttie favourite son of 
* Catharine ; he had joined in all her plots and persecu- 
tions, had been the commander of forces against the Hugo- 
nots in the field of battle, and their virulent persecutor in the 
time of peace. But in his progress to Poland, the coolness 
with which he was treated by the princes of Germany, had 
served to show him the horror with which the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew was viewed by all but the slaves of Rome, and 
he never after amidst his many crimes and follies showed him- 
self a persecutor. 2. On learning the news of his brother's 



HENRY in. 253 

death fearing to be detained by the Polish nobles, he abandoned 
his kingdom secretly ; some of the nobility followed him be- 
yond the boundaries, and to them he gave an indefinite promise 
of returning at some future period, which he had no intention 
to perform. The Poles eventually elected another king, and 
Henry and his former subjects seem speedily to have forgotten 
the existence of each other. 

3. In his earlier years, Henry had shown some traits of a 
manly and energetic spirit, but all traces of it seemed to have 
disappeared at his accession. He showed from the very 
beginning a dislike of serious occupations, a devotion to trifles 
and debauchery, and a total abandonment of all the cares of 
government to his niother and his favourites. 4. Catherine 
encouraged these dispositions, which allowed her to gratify 
iier insatiable thirst of dominion. The two great parties by 
which the kingdom was divided, had now acquired so much 
strength and consistency, that impartiality was scarcely possi- 
ble ; the royal council was similarly divided ; the president, 
de Thou, treading in the steps of the chancellor de I'Hopital, 
recommended that peace should be estabhshed on the basis of 
an amnesty for the past, and a toleration of the protestants for 
the future ; the partisans of the duke of Guise would be con- 
tented with nothing short of a total extirpation of heresy. 
The queen, as usual, endeavoured to make both parties sub- 
servient to her purposes ; but her arts had been too often 
practised to be any longer available, and both parties prepared 
to recommence the war, if indeed they can be said ever to 
have laid it aside. 

5. The duke of Alencon, who afterwards obtained the title 
of duke of Anjou, and the king of Navarre, had been restored 
to liberty by Henry immediately after his arrival in France ; 
but finding themselves exposed to suspicion, and deprived of 
all interest in the state, they quitted the court to place them- 
selves at the head of the politicians and the protestants. 6. 
The war was distinguished by no great exploit on either side, 
and was terminated by a peace, in which more favour- 
able conditions were granted to the Hugonots than they jeyg 
had hitherto obtained. The violent catholics, headed 
by the duke of Guise, loudly protested against this treaty, 
which they deemed subversive of the established religion, and 

entered into an alliance called the Holy League, in defence of 
what they called true Catholicity. The declared objects of 

his union were to defend the church, the king, and the state ; 

ts effects were the dishonouring of religion, the murder of the 
23 



254 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

king, and almost the utter ruin of the nation. As soon as the 
Hugonots had learned the news of this powerful combination 
for their destruction, they prepared to defend themselves, and 
stood to their arms in every part of the provinces. 7. Henry 
III., after some vain attempts to remain neutral, embraced the 
party of the league, and recalled the edicts of toleration which 
he had lately issued ; but there is some reason to doubt his 
sincerity in this transaction ; in fact, he seems to have placed 
himself at the head of the league, merely to exclude the duke 
of Guise from being appointed its leader. 

8. For five years the history of France presents nothing to 
our view but a series of petty combats, enterprises badly 
planned and worse executed, treaties hastily made, and as 
hastily broken ; treachery, disunion, and discontent in every 
part of the kingdom. The protestants were broken into as 
many parties as there were leaders ; the king of Navarre, 
who was nominally their head, suffered full as much from the 
jealousy of his followers, as from the malice of his enemies ; 
on the other hand, the king mortally detested the duke of 
Guise, whose popularity with the clergy and people made 
him a rival rather than a subject, and the duke despised the 
king, to whose incapacity he attributed the continued existence 
of heresy. 9. An unexpected event produced a new change 
of parlies, by compeUing the queen-mother and the duke of 
Guise to remove the veil which had hitherto concealed the 
objects of their ambition. The duke of Anjou having 
,p«,c deserted the king of Navarre, became apparently re- 
conciled to his brother, and even led an army against 
those Hugonots of whom he had been once the leader. 10. 
But not being able to continue at the court of his brother, 
where he found himself equally detested and despised, he 
secretly fled into Flanders, and placed himself at the head of 
the provinces which had revolted from the crown of Spain. 
The states of Holland chose him for their prince, partly in- 
fluenced by a belief that he was likely to become the husband 
of queen Elizabeth, and that they would thus obtain the 
assistance both of England and France. But Elizabeth had 
no intention of marrying any body, she coquetted with the 
duke of Anjou as she had done with many others, and broke 
off the negociation when it seemed on the point of being com- 
pleted. 11. The report was, however, serviceable to the 
duke, as it facilitated his reception by the Flemings, and gave 
him some authority with his new subjects. But the prince 
soon lost these advantages ; he displayed incapacity in the field 



HENRY III. 255 

and treachery in the cabinet, until at length being detected in 
an attempt to make himself king, he was compelled to fly 
into France, where he died overwhelmed with shame and 
vexation. 

12. The death of the duke of Anjou, and the im- 
probability of Henry's ever having any children, soon iroV 
made the members of the league develop their real 
designs. Henry of Navarre, according to the fundamental 
laws of the kingdom, was the next heir to the crown ; but as 
he was only related to the king in the fourteenth degree, and 
was besides a protestant, Catharine and the duke of Guise 
severally laboured to prevent his succession. Catharine re- 
solved, in defiance of the Salic law, to procure the crown for 
the descendants of her favourite daughter, the duchess of Lor- 
raine ; the duke of Guise, with duplicity equal to her own, 
pretended to join in her design, but strenuously laboured to 
procure the rich inheritance for himself. 13. The clergy 
were the foremost in exciting a new war ; every pulpit re- 
sounded with declamations on the dangers of the church if the 
throne were possessed by a protestant, every confession-box 
became the means of secretly whispering treason into the ears 
of the populace, and the press, which was almost totally in 
the hands of the ecclesiastics, produced daily the most inflam- 
matory appeals to the prejudices and bigotry of the nation. 
In these invectives the king was not spared ; his severe edicts 
for raising new taxes, his lavish profusion to unworthy 
favourites, his disgraceful debaucheries, and the hypocritical 
grimace which he substituted for devotion, furnished ample 
scope for satire ; and it was said in addition, that he had 
formed a secret alliance with the king of Navarre for the pro- 
tection of the Hugonots. 14. The duke of Guise was the 
main-spring of all these complicated movements ; as he could 
not openly claim the crown for himself, he persuaded the old 
cardinal of Bourbon, uncle to the king of Navarre, that he 
was the right heir to the crown in consequence of his ne- 
phew's heresy. The cardinal, whom contemporary his- 
torians briefly but emphatically designate an old fool, vA'as 
easily persuaded to assert his chimerical claim, and published 
a manifesto declaring himself chief of the league. Henry, 
however, could not be persuaded to set aside the claims of his 
cousin, the king of Navarre, even though that prince had re- 
fused to come near the court after he had been frequently in- 
vited, and had firmly resisted every attempt made to persuade 
him to change his religion. 



256 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

15. The accession of the king of Spain to the league 
,_'oJ became the signal for renewing the war; the Protest- 
ants fought no longer for their privileges but for their 
existence ; the duke of Guise scarcely concealed his designs 
upon the throne, the king of France was exposed to the at- 
tacks of both factions, and was in equal danger from the suc- 
cess of either. This is generally called the war of the three 
Henrys, viz. the king of France, the king of Navarre, and 
the duke of Guise. 16. The most extraordinary of all the 
matters connected with this tedious conflict was the conduct 
of the pope; though the league was professedly intended to 
exalt the power of the holy see, Sextus V. looked upon it as a 
rebelhous alliance, equally dangerous to the interests of royalty 
and religion. Possessed of as proud and ambitious a spirit as 
any pontiff that had ever held the papal throne, he reverenced in 
others any manifestations of that courage and vigour which 
formed so conspicuous a part of his own character. He ex- 
communicated Henry of Navarre and queen Elizabeth ; the 
former made a spirited appeal to a general council, and had 
his defiance posted on the gates of the Vatican ; Elizabeth 
excommunicated the pope in her turn. When Sextus heard 
of those instances of intrepidity, he declared, that though he- 
retics, these were the only sovereigns in Europe that deserved 
to wear a crown. 

17. But Avhatever may have been the private sentiments of 
the pope, his bull afforded a pretext to the leaguers, of Avhich 
the duke of Guise was not slow in availing himself. The 
leaders of the sixteen departments into which Paris was di- 
vided, the entire mob of that city, all the clergy, regular and 
secular, were on his side ; and the deposition of Henry III. 
was an object openly avowed b}'- his partisans. The duke's 
brother, the cardinal of Guise, declared publicly that the king 
should be sent into a monastery: his sister, the duchess of 
Montpensier, whom Henry had insulted by some remarks on 
her want of personal beauty, exhibited the scissors which 
were to give him the clerical tonsure. 

18. Henry of Navarre began now to show some proofs of 
those noble qualities, which have since deservedly procured 
for him the title of Great. The weakness and indecision of 
his father had shaken the confidence of the protestants in the 
house of Bourbon ; but his mother had redeemed the errors 
of her husband ; she was adored by her subjects, Avith whom 
she loved to reside, far from the intrigues and vices of the 
court. In the remote and wild districts of Bearne, Henrv re- 



HENRY III. 257 

ceived the education of a hardy mountaineer, and was early- 
taught to encounter difficulties and dangers. When brought 
to court, he was not proof against the seductive arts by which 
Catharine de Medicis endeavoured to bring him over to her 
party. Indifferent as to the means by which her ends were 
accomphshed, Catharine laboured with some success to lead 
the young prince into habits of debauchery, in order that she 
might rule his actions by means of the artful mistresses with . 
which she had supplied him. But the impending dangers of 
the league woke him from his dream of guilty pleasure ; he 
placed himself at the head of the protestant party when its 
fortunes were at the lowest ebb ; often defeated but never con- 
quered, he maintained his ground amidst the violence of ene- 
mies and the insincerity of friends, until he finally triumphed, 
as much by the admiration inspired by his moral character, as 
by the terror of his arms. 

19. Catharine made some ineffectual efforts to pre- 
vent this war by negociation, but being distrusted by , ^^J 
both parties, she completely failed. The royal army, 
under the duke of Joyeuse, an unworthy favourite of Henry's, 
was totally defeated at Contras by the king of Navarre. On 
the other hand, the duke of Guise cut to pieces an army of 
Germans, who had invaded France to make a diversion in fa- 
vour of the Hugonots. The populace of Paris were so in- 
toxicated with joy at the news of the victory obtained by their 
idol, that Henry, who had appeared for some time to have re- 
signed all care of the state, was roused from his lethargy by 
the imminent peril that threatened his crown and life. 20. 
He sent an express to Guise, forbidding him to approach 
Paris ; but the duke, pretending not to have received , Jao 
the royal mandate, hastened his approach to the city, 
and was received there with all the honours of a triumph. In 
order to reduce the power of the Sixteen, Henry introduced a 
body of his Swiss guards into Paris, but the citizens, instigated 
by the partisans of Guise, immediately took up arms ; the 
shops were shut, the alarm bells rung, barricades and chains 
were drawn across the streets, and the soldiers driven back 
from post to post, until the king found himself and his attend- 
ants closely penned up in the Louvre. Henry escaped during 
the night, leaving the duke of Guise in full possession of the 
capital, but Catharine remained behind to exert her arts of in- 
trigue in bringing about an accommodation. 21. A treaty was 
concluded, which neither party intended to observe, and in 
consequence of one of its stipulations, an assembly of the 
22* R 



258 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

States was ordered to be held at Blois. The debates and votes 
in this assembly sufficiently showed the dangerous designs en- 
tertained by the duke of Guise, and the great resources that 
he possessed for their accomplishment. To proceed against 
him for high treason would have been absurd, when all the 
states of the realm were in his favour; open war would cer- 
tainly terminate in the king's defeat ; nothing then remained 
but the detestable means of assassination, and this Henry de- 
termined to adopt. 22. A letter from pope Sextus greatly 
contributed to confirm his resolution ; his holiness advised the 
king " to render himself master of his rebellious subjects by 
any means in his power." Having armed nine of his most 
trusty followers with daggers, Henry sent to invite the duke 
of Guise to a speedy conference on matters of the utmost im- 
portance. The duke hastened to obey, but just as he was 
about to enter the room in which the king was, the assassins 
fell on him altogether, and he was instantly slain. His brother, 
the cardinal, shared the same fate on the following day. Thus 
fell, in the prime of life, two men whom nature had endowed 
with abilities that might have made them the brightest orna- 
ments of France, but which bigotry and ambition had rendered 
useless to themselves and pernicious to the nation. 

23. Henry proceeded from the scene of blood to his mother's 
apartments, and announcing to her the news, said, "Now, 
madam, I am indeed a king ;" she heard the account with the 
utmost indifference, but advised him to take advantage of the 
confusion which the event would cause in the league, and se- 
cure Paris. But Henry, believing all danger removed by the 
death of his greatest enemy, relapsed into his ordinary indo- 
lence. Soon after, Catharine, overwhelmed with sorrow at 
the disappointment of all her schemes, and broken down by 
whnessing the ruin which her profligate ambition had brought, 
on her children, felt herself sinking into an unhonoured grave. 
Her last advice to Henry was to establish liberty of conscience, 
and to enter into close alliance with Henry of Navarre. She 
died unlamented and almost forgotten : the dissolution of one 
who had played so prominent a part was regarded everywhere 
as an ordinary incident of trifling importance. 

24. Instead of "finding himself indeed a king," Henry, in 
consequence of his crime, was on the brink of ruin. The 
members of the league openly threw off their allegiance, and 
choosing as their leader the duke de Mayenne, the brother of 
the murdered duke, gave him the pompous title of " lieutenant- 
general of the royal state and crown of France," which wa.s 



HENRY III. 



259 




HENRY III. 261 

in fact giving him the authority of a sovereign writhout the 
name. 25. Most of the provinces and large cities of France 
declared in favour of the league, and Henry saw no hopes of 
preserving his authority unless he obtained the assistance of 
his cousin of Navarre. That prince suspected the king's sin- 
cerity, for once, unjustly, and remembered too well the share 
that Henry had taken in the massacre of St. Bartholomew to 
trust him too readily. But their natural necessities compelled 
both to bury their former animosities in oblivion ; the 
two Henrys had an interview at the castle of Plessis -. jJUq 
les Tours, and entered into a close alliance which was 
never afterwards violated. 26. Henry III. was now superior 
to his enemies ; he advanced to Paris and laid close siege to 
the city ; the inhabitants were unprepared for his attacks, they 
had but a small stock of provisions and an inadequate garrison ; 
the duke de JVIayenne was unable to collect an army for their 
relief; every thing seemed to promise a speedy surrender, 
when an unexpected event produced a new and total revo- 
lution. 

27. A monk, named James Clement, was persuaded by his 
own fanaticism, aided by the artful suggestions of some of the 
leaguers, that he would perform a meritorious action by killing 
a monarch who was an enemy to the church. For this pur- 
pose he resolved to go on to St. Cloud, where the king resided, 
and under the pretence of giving him a letter, stab him in the 
midst of his guards. Never did an assassin display so much 
intrepidity ; on his road he met La Guesle and his brother, 
who were going to join the royal army ; he was by them con- 
veyed to the camp, and spent the night of his arrival in their 
tent. He supped gaily with La Guesle's followers, retorted 
with considerable humour the jokes passed on his monkish 
habit, readily answered every question put to him, and after 
leaving the table, spent the night in a profound sleep. On the 
following morning he was introduced to the king, and pre- 
sented his letters ; while Henry was engaged in looking at 
them, Clement stabbed him with a knife which he had con- 
cealed in his sleeve ; the king immediately called out that he 
was murdered, and drawing out the knife from the wound, 
struck the assassin in the face ; at the same time the attendants 
despatched him with their swords. The death of Clement 
prevented any discovery of those by whom he had been in- 
stigated to the atrocious deed, but it appears very probable that 
the family of Lorraine were those who had most share in the 
contrivance, in revenge for the murder of the duke of Guise. 



262 . HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

When Henry found that his wound was mortal, he prepared for 
death with much apparent resignation. He took an affectionate 
farewell of the king of Navarre, whom he declared his successor, 
after having strenuously exhorted him to conciliate his future 
subjects by embracing the Catholic religion. Having then 
confessed himself with much apparent devotion, he expired in 
the 88th year of his age and the 15th of his reign. 28. With 
him ended the house of Valois, which had held the throne of 
France for 261 years. During their dynasty, the several in- 
dependent principalities into which Gaul had been so long 
divided, were consolidated into the single compact kingdom 
of France ; but this advantage was more than counterbalanced 
by the estabhshment of arbitrary principles of government, 
and the continual weakening of the influence previously pos- 
sessed by the assemblies of the states. 

The news of the assassination of Henry III. had been 
received at Paris with odious joy. It was celebrated by 
bonfires, and other marks of rejoicing. The duchess of 
Montpensier got into a carriage with her mother, and passing 
through the streets, called out to the people, from time to 
time, " Good news ! good news !" The pulpits resounded 
with eulogies on the glorious martyr, James Clement. 
Crowds ran to see his mother, a poor rustic, whom the 
duchess of Montpensier had brought to Paris ; and the six- 
teen, in their harangues, applied to her these words of scrip- 
ture, " Happy is the womb which has borne thee, and 
blessed are the breasts which have given thee milk." The 
Parisians, however, demanded a king. Mayenne, not daring 
to take the crown himself, because he knew the people, as 
well as the king of Spain, were opposed to his wishes, 
caused the old Cardinal de Bourbon to be proclaimed, under 
the name of Charles X. " He was," says L'Etoile, " the 
true king of the theatre and of painting," and was, at that 
time, the prisoner of Henry IV. For himself, Mayenne was 
content to bear the title of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, 
which, in fact, placed in his hands all the power of the state. 
He then invited the parliament, the provinces, and the nobility, 
to deliver their king from captivity, and to stand forward in 
defence of their religion. At the same time, he established 
a secret understanding with the royal army, and endeavoured 
to gain over both the officers and soldiers. 

As with Henry HI. the race of Valois, by the deed of 
Clement, was extinguished, the direct line of the Capets 
ceased by the death of the three brothers without male issue. 



HENRY III. 



263 




Assassination of Henry III. 



HENRY III. 



265 



The next heir to the throne was Henry de Bourbon, king 
of Navarre, related to the late king in the twenty-second de- 
gree ; but the name which he bore as a Hueguenot was, in 
the opinion of many, enough to exclude him for ever from 
the throne. The Catholics, who would have deemed it a 
crime to conspire against Henry HI., their legitimate king, 
scrupled not to repulse Henry IV. altogether, or, at all events, 
till he should have re-entered the bosom of the church. One 
other thought influenced them generally, or at least a great 
number of them ; they had an idea of making him purchase 
their adhesion, or, perhaps, of creating small sovereignties, 
in particular cities and provinces. 




Valet and Footman of Henry III. 



266 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Henry IV., his Queen, and the Dauphin. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



HENRY IV. 

But be thy failings cover'd by thy tomb, 
And guardian laurels o'er thy ashes bloom ! 

Hatlet. 

1. The death of Henry III. relieved Paris from the 
1K«Q ii^niinent dangers to which it had been exposed ; the 
' title of Henry IV. was indeed acknowledged by the 
principal leaders of the besieging army, but his religion pre- 
vented them from warmly espousing his cause ; the greater 
part drew off their forces, and Henry was compelled to raise 
the siege, which his diminished forces could no longer con- 
tinue. The duke of Mayenne, who might have assumed the 
title of king, chose rather to proclaim the cardinal of Bourbon, 
though he remained a prisoner; and having collected a nu- 
merous band of leaguers, he pursued Henry on his retreat to 
Normandy. 3. The royalists, though inferior in numbers, 
gained two brilliant victories at Arques and Ivri, over the par- 
tizans of the league; but though these triumphs served to 



HENRY IV. 267- 

raise the character of Henry, they were not sufficient to crush 
a party bound together by their own bigotry, the gold of 
Spain, and the spiritual authority of the pope. 3. His own 
followers gave the king nearly as much trouble as his enemies ; 
the catholic royalists detested the Hugonots ; the protestants 
returned the hatred, and were, besides, divided amongst them- 
selves ; the princes of the blood were either too young to exert 
any influence, or had ranged themselves under the banners of 
the league, and Henry found himself engaged in this dan- 
gerous war almost s()lely dependent on his own personal 
resources. 4. The king of Spain was anxious to obtain the 
crown of France for his daughter, Clara Eugenia; the pro- 
testant princes of Europe, dreading the additional power that 
would thus be added to the Spanish monarchy, already formi- 
dable, resolved to support the cause of Henry, the queen Eli- 
zabeth, especially, assisted him with money and warlike stores. 

5. These aids, and the confidence inspired by seve- 
ral successive triumphs, soon enabled Henry to under- ic-qa 
take the siege of Paris, where the hatred of the 
leaguers displayed itself with more violence, in proportion as 
the king showed himself more worthy of afTection. Though 
their shadow of a king, the cardinal de Bourbon, had lately 
died, and they had not selected any other in his place, so far 
were they from thinking of submitting to their rightful sove- 
reign, that the doctors of the Sorbonne declared that Henry, 
being a relapsed heretic, could not receive the crown even 
though he should obtain absolution, and this shameful decree 
was confirmed by the parliament. 6. In the meantime, Paris 
being closely blockaded and ill supplied with provisions, was 
attacked by all the horrors of a severe famine. Bread was 
made of bones ground into powder, food the most revolting 
was eagerly sought after, multitudes dropped daily dead in the 
street from extreme starvation, but no one spoke of yielding. 
The clergy had promised a crown of martyrdom to all who 
died in the cause of the church, and their deluded followers 
submitted to every privation without a murmur. Still, had 
Henry not been moved with a paternal pity for his frantic sub- 
jects, he might have taken Paris by assault ; but when urged 
to give orders for the purpose, he replied — "I had rather lose 
Paris, than get possession of it when ruined by the death of 
so many persons." He gave the fugitives from the city a safe 
passage through his camp, and permitted his officers and sol- 
diers to send in refreshments to their friends. By this lenity 
he indeed lost the fruit of his labours for the present, but he 



268 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

gained the approbation of his own conscience and the admira- 
tion of posterity. 7. The prince of Parma, who commanded 
the Spanish army in Flanders, advanced to the rehef of Paris 
when the citizens were at the very point of despair ; by a series 
of masterly movements, he disconcerted the efforts made by 
Henry to bring on an engagement, relieved the garrison, and 
returned to continue his wars with the Dutch ; after having 
performed this essential service to the league with scarcely the 
loss of a man. 8. The following year, Henry met a similar 
disappointment at the siege of Rouen, where the escape of the 
prince of Parma was effected under such difficult circum- 
stances, that Henry could scarcely believe the evidence of his 
senses when he found that the hostile troops were beyond his 
reach. 9. Death soon after delivered the king from this for- 
midable rival ; the prince died in Flanders at the age of forty- 
seven ; his military talents and great virtues would have 
brought the United Provinces again under the yoke of Spain, 
had it been possible to find a remedy for despotism and per- 
secution. 

10. The conduct of the Sixteen at Paris, contributed much 
to weaken the influence of the league ; these hot-headed rebels 
pretended to give the law both to the duke de Mayenne and 
the parliament. When a man whom they wished to destroy 
was acquitted, they suddenly broke out into the most furious 
excesses, and actually hanged three of the magistrates who 
had been judges at the trial, amongst whom was Brisson, the 
first president of the parliament. The duke de Mayenne acted 
on this occasion with a promptitude and decision foreign to his 
character ; he marched to Paris at the head of his most trusty 
followers, delivered the most violent of the murderers to the 
executioner, deprived the Sixteen of the Bastille, which had 
been their principal stronghold, and thus finally crushed a de- 
testable faction, which derived its whole strength from the 
madness of fanaticism. 11. But these favourable events were 
not sufficient to put Henry in possession of the kingdom, while 
he professed a religion odious to the majority of his subjects ; 
his most faithful followers, protestant as well as catholic, re- 
commended him to change his religion, and Henry only de- 
layed through fear of offending Elizabeth and the protestant 
princes of Germany. At length, finding that the states-general 
had proceeded so far as to offer the crown to the Spanish in- 
fanta, on condition of her marrying a French prince, Henry saw 

that further delay might bring ruin on his cause, and 
|RQq publicly abjured protestantism in the church of St. 

Denis. 12. Though this conversion was any thing 



HENRY IV. 269 

but sincere, it was followed by the most beneficial effects. The 
nobility, in general, hastened to reconcile themselves to a king 
whose character they respected, and most of those who still 
held out, only did so in hopes of receiving some reward for 
returning to their allegiance. 13. The duke de Mayenne and 
some few of the more violent leaguers, however, obstinately 
refused to acknowledge the king, until he had received abso- 
lution from the pope ; the bigoted clergy preached with their 
accustomed vehemence against the man of Beam, as they 
still called their sovereign ; but the efforts of some men of 
genius who had joined the royal cause, weakened the force of 
their invectives. 14. Several ingenious writings against the 
follies and absurdities of these ignorant bigots, especially the 
Menippean satire, covered them with such merited ridicule, 
that they found their declamations unheeded and neglected. 
At length Paris opened its gates to Henry, and found 
in him not a vindictive conqueror, but a paternal sove- jgoY 
reign. 15. While he was employed in giving the 




Henry IV. Entering Paris. 

most remarkable proofs of his beneficence and zeal for the 
public good, his life was attempted by a young fanatic, named 
John Chatal. When the assassin was interrogated, he pleaded 
in excuse the doctrine of tyrannicide, which he had learned 
among his masters, the Jesuits, and had heard preached by the 
23* 



270 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Capuchins. The parliament having witnessed so forcible a 
proof of the dangerous tendency of the doctrines preached by 
these monastic orders, commanded them to be banished from 
the kingdom. 

16. At length the long expected bull of absolution 
,p.*q_" arrived from the pope; and the leaguers having no 
further grounds of resistance, prepared everywhere for 
submission. The duke de Mayenne set the example, and 
during the remainder of his life was one of Henry's most 
faithful and devoted subjects ; the other chiefs followed his 
example, but exacted a high price for the purchase of their 
loyalty, which Henry, notwithstanding the disordered state of 
his finances, faithfully paid. 17. Philip, king of Spain, was 
now Henry's only enemy ; and even he, notwithstanding his 
blind and brutal obstinacy of character, saw that the league 
was irretrievably ruined. He still continued the war, captured 
Calais, and soon after added to his conquests the city of Amiens, 
wliich his forces surprised. 18. But Henry soon recovered 
the latter, and forced the Spanish arnvy to retreat. The pro- 
testants were naturally displeased with the king for having 
deserted their religion, and were inclined to create dis- 
irqe turbances in the provinces. Henry, therefore, to con- 
ciliate this portion of his subjects, issued the celebrated 
edict of Nantes, by which they were granted a perfect tolera- 
tion of their religion, and full security both in person and pro- 
perty. 19. Soon afterwards the war with Spain was termin- 
ated by the treaty of Vervins, which Henry, by the tacit con- 
sent of his aUies, the Dutch and English, concluded separately 
with Philip. 20. The death of the Spanish king followed in 
a short time after the conclusion of this pacification, and with 
him the power of Spain seems to have terminated. His efforts 
to crush protestantism in Europe, dictated by bigotry rather 
than by policy, were eminently unsuccessful, and served in the 
end to ruin the country which was cursed with him as a sove- 
reign. England defeated the armada arrogantly named in- 
vincible, and crushed the naval power of Spain ; Holland suc- 
ceeded in throwing off Philip's yoke, and acquiring independ- 
ence ; the league perished in France ; his only successful 
project was the establishment of the inquisition in Spain, which 
long continued to degrade that unhappy country. 

21. The return of peace and tranquillity produced a period 
of comparative happiness in France, to which its inhabitants 
had been long unaccustomed. The protestants, indeed, thought 
that Henry was not sufficiently grateful to his oldest and most 



HENRY IV. 



271 



faithful friends, but the nation in general were delighted with 
a monarcii, wliose greatest anxiety was to prove himself the 
father of his subjects, and who, unhke all his predecessors, 
extended his care to the peasantry, who had been hitherto 
treated as an inferior class of beings. 22. But though the dis- 
positions of the king were noble and generous, it is doubtful 
whether they would have proved so beneficial, had they not 
been directed by his faithful friend and able minister, the 
marquis de Rosny, afterwards duke of Sully. Under him the 




Sully. 



finances, which were in a frightful state of disorder, were, by 
a series of judicious measures, made available for the services 
of the kingdom ; commerce, which had been oppressed by a 
load of monopolies and absurd restrictions, was unfettered ; 
industry was every where encouraged, useful public works 
undertaken, and the administration of justice purified from the 
corruptions which had long made it a system of legalized ini- 
quity. Henry, too sensible to the allurements of pleasure, 
was frequently made the dupe of his mistresses, and the beau- 
tiful Gabrielle d'Estrees had so much power over him, that he 
designed to marry her if he could obtain permission from 
Rome to divorce his wife, Margaret of Valois, with whom he 
had not hved for several years. On the death of Gabrielle, 
Henry took as his second mistress Henrietta d'Entragues, an 
artful woman, who very nearly succeeded in becoming his 
queen. Henry showed his promise ready signed to Sully, 
when the virtuous minister, transported with indignation, in- 



272 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

stantly tore it to pieces. "I believe you are mad," cried 
Henry in a rage. " It is true, I am mad," replied Sully, 
" and I wish I were the only madman in France." Henry 
was finally divorced from Margaret, and soon after married 
Mary de Medicis ; by her he had a son who afterwards suc- 
ceeded him, but in every other respect the match was unfor- 
tunate. 

23. During the wars of the league, the duke of 
ir'm ^^^°y ^^'^ made several encroachments on the territory 

■ of France ; the exertions of Sully had supplied the 
king with the means of punishing these usurpations, and he 
accordingly commenced a vigorous war against that prince. 
It began and ended in one campaign ; the duke was compelled 
to beg a peace, which he could only obtain by the cession of a 
considerable portion of his dominions. 24. But the duke had 
left the seeds of rebellion in the kingdom, and even seduced 
the marechal de Biron, who had been one of Henry's best and 
earliest friends, to obhterate the remembrance of his former 
services, by joining in a treasonable conspiracy against his 
country and his king. Henry, who had the most unquestion- 
able proofs of his guilt, offered him a pardon if he would can- 
didly confess his crime ; but Biron obstinately refusing to 
make any acknowledgment, he was delivered over to justice. 
It is remarkable that this nobleman, who had always exhibited 
great personal bravery in the field of battle, betrayed the most 
Avomanish weakness on the scaffold ; so much does heroism 
consist in a consciousness of moral rectitude. 

25. The kingdom of France for several years continued to 
enjoy the fruits of an excellent administration, and saw her 
strength revive with her happiness ; but plots were daily con- 
trived against the king, principally fomented by his perfidious 
mistress d'Entragues. So infatuated was Henry, that he con- 
tinued his affection to this perfidious woman even after he had 
received the most unequivocal proofs of her guilt. The duke 
de Bouillon, who had received the greatest marks of kindness, 
endeavoured to excite a new civil war, by working on the dis- 
contents and disappointments of the Hugonots. Henry hav- 
ing in vain tried gentler methods, at length marched against 
the duke, and deprived him of his principahty, Sedan, but 
restored it again on his repentant submission. 

26. These disturbances did not, however, produce 
■tp(\a any serious effect on the general tranquillity of France ; 

■ under the prudent administration of Sully, that coun- 
try was fast recovering from the evils that had been inflicted 



HENRY IV. 273 

by the civil wars ; and Henry being left at liberty to direct his 
attention to forelofn affairs, endeavoured to merit the name of 
the Pacifier of Europe, a title more honourable than that of 
the most illustrious conqueror. The republic of Venice had 
provoked the hostility of the court of Rome, by sentencing to 
capital punishment an Augustine monk, who had been guilty 
of the most enormous crimes, and prohibiting the alienation 
of lands to the clergy, who had become a burden to the state, 
from their numbers, their extensive possessions, and their ex- 
emption from taxation. Paul V., who was then pope, excom- 
municated the republic, and not trusting entirely to the effi- 
cacy of ecclesiastical censures, levied an army in order to 
compel the Venetians to submission. Henry, perceiving the 
scandal that this war was likely to bring on religion, 
successfully offered himself as a mediator, and notwith- -innA 
standing the vehement opposition of the Spanish court, 
effected a reconcihation. The states of Holland, though vir- 
tually independent, were not as yet acknowledged as a separate 
state by their former masters, the Spaniards ; the war had now 
lasted forty years, and the Dutch had not only driven their 
oppressors out of the country, but also obtained several im- 
portant settlements in the extremity of Asia. 27. Henry me- 
diated a peace between the new states and their former rulers ; 
a labour of no small difficulty, for the Spanish court, with the 
same obstinate pride by which it is distinguished at the present 
day, preferred a nominal title over their former subjects, to the 
solid advantages of a beneficial peace. 

28. We are told by Sully, that Henry meditated the forma- 
tion of a Christian republic in Europe ; it was proposed to 
divide Europe between fifteen sovereigns, none of whom 
should be permitted to make any new acquisition, but should 
form altogether an association for maintaining a mutual balance 
and preserving peace. This project was one of very ques- 
tionable utility, and at all events could never be realized ; his 
second object, to set bounds to the ambition of the house of 
Austria, both in Germany and Italy, was more practicable, and 
more immediately useful. 29. He had already made the ne- 
cessary preparations for this enterprise, when the emperor, 
Rodolph II, , furnished him with a pretence for commencing 
the war, by sequestrating the duchies of Cleves, Juliers, and 
Bergue, after the death of the last duke. Henry entered into 
a league Avith the elector of Brandenburgh and the count Pa- 
latine of Neuburg, who both pretended to the succession. The 
protestants of Germany, always justly suspicious of Austrian 

S 



274 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

treachery, formed a new alliance for the protection of their 
civil and religious liberties, of which Henry was privately the 
contriver, and publicly the chief support. The pope, the re- 
public of Venice, and the confederacy of the Swiss cantons, 
all led by separate interests, were united in the common reso- 
lution of checking the imperial power. 

30. Never was any enterprise better concerted. Henry was 
to march into Germany at the head of forty thousand excel- 
lent soldiers. Sully had provided ample resources for the ex- 
penses of the army ; the allies were all eager to perform their 
several stipulations. On the other side, the emperor was im- 
mersed in the study of astrology, and a vain search after the 
philosopher's stone ; his only supporter, the king of Spain, 
was the slave of bigotted inquisitors and avaricious favourites ; 
both were destitute of wisdom, confidence, and resources. 31. 
Henry was impatient to join the army, but was detained much 
against his will to gratify the queen with the vain ceremony 
of a coronation, which she insisted on with the most eager vio- 
lence. During the festivities which took place on this occa- 
sion, the mind of Henry was distracted by the most gloomy 
forebodings, and he more than once felt that " coming events 
cast their shadows before," in fearful anticipations of a sudden 
and violent death. 32. His apprehensions were fatally ful- 
filled. Passing along a street, his coach was entangled in a 
crowd, and a desperate fanatic, named Ravaillac, took that op- 
portunity of stabbing him. The assassin mounted on the 
hind wheel of the coach, and plunged a knife into the king's 
bosom, who was so intent on the perusal of a letter, that he did 
not even see his murderer. The courtiers who were in the 
coach drew up the windows, and ordered the driver to return to 
the Louvre, but hfe was extinct before they reached the palace. 
33. Thus died at the age of fifty-seven a prince worthy of im- 
mortality, against whom more than fifty conspiracies were 
formed by his contemporaries, but whose memory has been 
hallowed by the admiration of posterity, and whose reign 
might serve as a model to all princes who love their subjects. 
Let us bury in oblivion a few spots which stain his private life, 
weaknesses which are unhappily too common to heroic minds, 
and honour him for the clemency which he showed to his in- 
veterate enemies, the wisdom with which he tranquillized a 
land distracted by civil wars for nearly half a century, and the 
enlightened toleration of which he gave a bright example him- 
self, and recommended the practice to his successors. 34. 
Much of the glory both of the public works that Henry exe- 



HENRY IV. 



275 



cuted, and those still greater which he had projected, undoubt- 
edly belongs to Sully ; but it is no small praise to have selected 
such an adviser, and to have borne with patience the reproofs 
which Sully frequently gave him with a boldness almost re- 
publican. The king was happy in possessing such a minister, 
and the minister was as happy in having such a king. The 
nation was still more fortunate in enjoying such a rare combi- 
nation as a virtuous sovereign and a patriotic administration. 




""■•■''^"''«'"lKr^-^. 



276 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Louis XIII. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



LOUIS XIII. 



Talents angel bright 
If wanting worth are shining instruments, 
In false ambition's hands, to furnish faults 
Illustrious, and give infamy renown. 

Youiro. 

1. The assassination of Henry IV. overthrew the 
ifi'in ^^^^^^ structure which his wise conduct had raised, 
dispelled all the hopes that lovers of their country had 
formed, and plunged the kingdom irtto every species of mis- 
fortune. In the midst of the public sorrow, the queen and 
several of the courtiers could scarcely conceal their joy at the 
removal of the restraint which had hitherto checked their am- 
bition and rapacity. Louis XIII. was but nine years old, and 
the appointment to the regency was a natural source of all the 
artifices of political intrigue. 3. The queen dowager, Mary 
de Medicis, was like her predecessor Catharine in desire of 
power, but was not quite so unscrupulous in the use of ini- 



LOUIS XIII. 277 

quitous means for its attainment. Her great friend and assist- 
ant, the duke d'Epernon, went to ttie parliament which was 
then sitting, and threatened violence if the queen were not 
immediately invested with the sole authority of the regency. 
That body, partly moved by his threats, and partly anxious to 
annex the legislative authority of the states-general to their 
judicial functions, complied with his request, 

3. Nothing could equal the vices and follies of the new go- 
vernment. The Florentine Concini, Marquis d'Ancre, and 
his wife Eleanor, obtained a complete ascendancy over the 
mind of the queen, who was as weak in intellect as she was 
ardent in ambition. These two foreigners, equally rapacious 
and subtle, raised themselves from a condition below mediocrity 
to the summit of fortune. With them were joined the pope's 
nuncio, the Spanish ambassador, and a Jesuit named Cotton, 
the whole forming a secret conclave by which all the import- 
ant measures of the state were directed, whilst the delibera- 
tions of the council of state were rendered an absolute nullity. 
4. The objects that engaged their attention were to cement an 
union between France and Spain, by the marriage of Anne 
of Austria with the king, and his sister Elizabeth with the son 
of Philip III., to dissolve all the alliances formed in the last 
reign, to exterminate the Hugonots, and to dissipate all the 
treasures that had been collected by the economy of the former 
reign. 5. Sully soon became wearied of vyitnessing crimes 
that he could not check, and profusion that he could not con- 
trol ; he demanded and obtained permission to retire to his 
country-seat, where he passed the remainder of his life in 
literary retirement, engaged in composing those interesting 
memoirs of his own times, which have proved almost as useful 
to succeeding generations as his public hfe was to France. 
Once again he returned to court, when Louis XIII. wished 
for his advice. The young courtiers began to ridicule his old- 
fashioned dress and behaviour, which Sully perceiving, said to 
Louis, " When the king, your father, did me the honour of 
consulting me, he first dismissed all the buffoons of the court." 
This great man survived to the year 164L 

6. The misconduct of the government soon produced a civil 
war. The prince of Conde, with several of the most power- 
ful nobles, took up arms, and the queen, unable to resist them 
in the field, was compelled to concede all their demands 
by the treaty of Sainte-Menehoulde. 7. One of these jgji 
was the convocation of the states-general, which were 
accordingly assembled, but spent their whole time in useless 
24 



278 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

disputation. The clergy insisted on the publication of tne 
decrees of the council of Trent, whicii the other orders looked 
on as subversive of the independence of the kingdom ; on the 
other hand, a proposal of the third estate to enact a law de- 
claring, " That no temporal or spiritual power has a right to 
dispose of the kingdom and absolve the subjects from their 
allegiance," was rejected by the ecclesiastics as an heretical 
novelty. This can scarcely be deemed surprising when we 
learn that the regency annulled an arret of the parliament, 
declaring the king independent of foreign jurisdiction. One 
would almost have supposed that the court of Rome had pre- 
sided in the king's council. 

8. The parliament Avere at length roused to enquire into 
the state of the country ; they made remonstrances to the 
court on the dissipation of the royal treasures, but were 
severely checked for intermeddling with affairs of state. The 
prince of Conde, placing himself at the head of the Hugonots 
again, had recourse to arms. After publishing a most violent 
manifesto, he suffered himself to be duped by the Italian arti- 
fices of the queen, laid down his arms, returned to court, and 
was shut up a close prisoner in the Louvre. Soon after, the 
Marchioness d'Ancre made a total change in the ministry, 
and promoted to the office of secretary of state, Richelieu, 
bishop of Lucon, who was afterwards destined to be the virtual 
sovereign of France. 

9. The Concinis, though equally despised and de- 
1^1^ tested by the great, were long enabled to resist all 
their efforts; but they met with a more formidable 
enemy in young Luines, whose rise was almost as rapid and 
astonishing as their own. This man had risen to favour by 
his skill in training birds for the amusement of the monarch ; 
he found means to inspire Louis with a jealousy of the 
authority possessed by the regency, persuaded him to shake 
off the yoke of his' domineering mother, and the still more 
odious slavery in which he was held by foreigners, who, 
through her means, were his masters, and the actual rulers 
of his kingdom. 10. These insinuations produced their in- 
tended effect ; orders were issued to arrest the marquis d'An- 
cre ; and Vitri, captain of the guard, executed them according 
to the intention of Luines ; that is, Concini was slain under 
pretence of having made some resistance. This service pro- 
cured for Vitri a marechal's staff; the same honour had previ- 
ously been conferred on one Themines, for having arrested 
the prince of Conde. What must the government have been 



LOUIS XIII. 279 

when such services were rewarded with the highest military- 
honours ! 11. The trial of the marchioness d'Ancre was a 
glaring mixture of folly and absurdity. The principal accusa- 
tion against her was that she had obtained an influence over 
the qu'een by sorcery ! When asked by her judges, " what 
magic she had used to fascinate Mary de Medicis ?" she 
replied with equal sense and spirit, " the ascendancy which a 
superior genius has over a weak mind." The parliament de- 
clared her guilty of treason against God and man, without 
specifying any particular action which could be con- ^ ^ 
siderei as either, and sentenced her to be beheaded, jgjg_ 
after which her body was to be burned. 

12. The exile of the queen mother was a necessary con- 
sequence of the execution of her favourites; she was sent to 
Blois, where she intrigued with the duke d'Epernon to regain 
her influence by force of arms. Twice was she on the point 
of commencing a civil war, but the evil was on both occasions 
averted by negociations, in the latter of which Richelieu was 
honourably distinguished. Luines imitated the example of 
the Florentines, whose ruin he had effected ; he enriched 
himself with their spoils, and in a short time rose from the 
rank of a private gentleman to the very highest dignities of 
the state. His weak-minded master gave him the sword of 
constable, and, with still greater folly stirred up a war amongst 
his subjects, in which his favourite might have an opportunity 
of exhibiting his incapacity. 13. The edict of Nantes having 
been flagrantly and repeatedly violated, the Hugonots resolved 
to defend themselves from continued insults and oppressions : 
an assembly of their leaders was held at Rochelle, where it 
was resolved, unless their wrongs should be redressed, that 
they would throw off' the yoke of France and erect a republic 
on the model of the Dutch. 

14. The constable Luines, equally ignorant and presump- 
tuous, imagining that he could easily crush this formidable 
party, undertook the management of the war ; and ^ ^^ 
Louis, at his instigation, laid siege to Montauban, but ^^^l. 
after having wasted much blood and treasure before its 
walls, was "forced to make a hurried and disgraceful retreat. 
15. Two great captains, the duke of Rohan and his brother 
Soubise, were at the head of the protestants, and nothing could 
detach them from a cause which they thought it their duty to 
defend. Luines died after this disgraceful expedition ; the 
ofHce of constable, which became vacant by his death, was an 
object sufficiently tempting to prevail on the brave but ambi- 



280 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

tious Lesdiguieres, to desert his religion and his party ; he ab- 
jured protestantism, and became a formidable enemy to the 
Hugonots, of whom he had long been one of the most favourite 
leaders. 16. The war was carried on with more valour than 
skill on both sides ; in the attack on the island of Rhe, the 
king displayed great personal bravery, and cut to pieces a large 
body of the insurgents ; but the Hugonots were still so formi- 
dable, that he was obliged to renew his former treaty with them, 
and again confirm the edict of Nantes ; thus a desultory war 
was again terminated by an insincere peace. 

17. The entire policy of Europe was now about to 
IfiW ^fidergo a complete revolution, effected by the superior 
genius of one man. We have already noticed the first 
introduction of Richeheu into public life, and the share that he 
had in reconciling the queen mother to her son ; for this ser- 
vice he had been rewarded with a cardinal's hat ; but the king 
had by an express stipulation, excluded him from holding any 
office in the state. Louis, who was not totally destitute of re- 
ligious feelings, was disgusted by the cardinal's licentious life, 
which his sacred profession rendered more disgraceful. At 
length he yielded to his mother's importunities, and made 
Richelieu one of his council ; the cardinal knew well how to 
improve the opportunity ; five years after his appointment to 
the council, he became prime minister and all-powerful ; but 
from the first moment of his introduction he was the master 
of all his compeers. 18. The great objects of the cardinal's 
policy were to destroy the Hugonots and humble the house of 
Austria. For this purpose he undertook and executed several 
preparatory measures of great importance. He concluded a 
marriage between Henrietta, the king's sister, and the prince 
of Wales, afterwards Charles I. ; he delivered the Alpine pro- 
vince of the Valteline from the yoke of Rome and Spain ; he 
concluded an alliance with the Dutch, who, though distracted 
by internal religious wars, were maintaining a vigorous con- 
test against the Spaniards, and seizing on some of their most 
important colonies both in Asia and America. 19. Before 
Richeheu could undertake his magnificent projects with any 
chance of success, it was necessary to secure himself in the 
ministry against the factions of the French nobility, who still 
.preserved some portion of their former feudal power. Gaston, 
duke of Orleans, brother of the king, was at the head of a 
party opposed to the cardinal, whose assassination he meditated. 
The fickleness and cowardice of Gaston was the ruin of his 
accomplices ; he reconciled himself to the court by disclosing 



282 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



;l,,,i^ni^.'hiVM.mm4ff\\\i:Mi>f miiata 




Gaston, Duke of Orleans, disclosing the Conspiracy to Richelieu. 



LOUIS xrii. 283 

their conspiracy to Richelieu, and again formed new conspira- 
cies, whose failure only served to strengthen the exorbitant 
power of the minister. Never had a statesman so many diffi- 
culties to encounter, but they only served to give scope to his 
genius, and his ambitious spirit supphed him with an energy 
and perseverance that triumphed over all opposition, 20. To 
authorise the changes that he intended, an assembly of the 
Notables was convoked ; this was merely a convocation of the 
principal nobility, and did not, like the states-general, contain 
any popular representatives. Richelieu proposed several im- 
portant measures for the reformation of finance, and addressed 
the assembly with equal wisdom and eloquence ; he said that 
it was better to provide for the due execution of former edicts 
than to form new ordinances, and that actions rather than words 
would be found a proper remedy for the evils of the state. All 
his edicts were approved without opposition. 

21. Whilst the genius of Richeheu ruled the whole 
kingdom of France, the duke of Buckingham, the im- -i^cy^ 
prudent minister of Charles I., was arming England, 
against her ancient enemy. The imprudent zeal of Henri- 
etta's catholic attendants had provoked the hostility of the 
English ; the attacks made on their protestant brethren, the 
Hugonots, had excited the national sympathy in their favour, 
and Buckingham took advantage of these circumstances to 
revenge an insult which had been offered him by Richelieu. 
Whilst the English duke had been employed in negociating 
the marriage between Henrietta and Charles, he was weak 
enough to form a romantic attachment for Louis's queen, Anne 
of Austria. Anxious to pay her a second visit, he passed over 
into France, under the pretence of concluding a treaty against 
Spain, but Richelieu being informed of his sentiments, caused 
him to be denied admittance at court, and Buckingham, irri- 
tated at his disappointment, resolved to encourage and support 
the Hugonols, who, equally suspicious and suspected, were 
again engaged in an insurrection. 22. The rashness of 
Buckingham caused the ruin of Rochelle, which had long been 
justly looked on as the principal bulwark of the French pro- 
testants. Richelieu undertook its siege in person, and showed, 
during its continuance, the valour of a soldier, the skill of a 
general, the wisdom of a statesman, but little of the attributes 
which belonged to his profession of an ecclesiastic. The duke 
of Buckingham, on the other hand, undertook nothing that 
did not prove his complete incapacity for the situation into 
which he had been thrust by the favour of his foolish sove- 



284 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

reign. He made a descent on the isle of Rhe, which was 
badly contrived, and worse executed ; after being disgracefully 
defeated he returned home, leaving Rochelle completely in- 
vested both by sea and land. To exclude the English suc- 
cours, the cardinal had caused a mole to be constructed across 
the entrance of the harbour ; he was not interrupted in the 
execution of this daring project, for the duke of Buckingham 
having been assassinated at Portsmouth, the sailing of the 
English fleet was delayed until after this great work had been 
completed. 23. The inhabitants of Rochelle bore all the 
horrors of a fierce siege and pressing famine, with unparalleled 
courage and patience. Guiton, their mayor, would not listen 
even to the proposal of a surrender ; when told that the majo- 
rity of the inhabitants were fast falling victims to hunger and 
disease, he replied — " it is enough if one remains to shut the 
gates." The mother and sister of the duke de Rohan ani- 
mated the garrison by their spirited exhortations, and encour- 
aged the citizens by their example of patient submission to 
privation. But, though heroic perseverance may be exhibited 
with the very faintest glimmerings of hope, it decays and per- 
ishes when the failure of the last faint expectation is witnessed. 
24. The hope of relief from England had supported the 
Rochellans under all their sufferings ; the English fleet hove 
in sight ; the worn-down inhabitants crawled to the walls, 
eager to witness the success of this their last and only chance. 
They saw that fleet, after a weak and ineffectual effort to 
break through the mole, tack about and leave them to their 
fate. The courage by which they had been hitherto supported 
at once failed, they immediately surrendered almost at discre- 
tion, and a royalist garrison manned the walls of Rochelle, ere 
the topsails of the fleet that had been sent for their de- 
1fi2ft liverance were out of sight. 25. The victorious army 
* seemed, on entering the city, to have come into the 
abode of death; more than two-thirds of the inhabitants had 
fallen victims to the calamities of the siege, and the survivors 
resembled skeletons rather than living men ; the streets were 
silent and deserted, " there was not a house in which there 
was not one dead ;" and one of the victorious generals was 
compelled to exclaim, "we have only triumphed over carcas- 
ses." A few da)fs after the surrender of the town, a violent 
tempest destroyed the mole which had proved its ruin, but 
Richeheu had demolished the fortifications, and the citizens 
were too few and too dispirited to make any new attempt for 
freedom. 26. Nismes and Montauban shortly after surren- 



LOUIS XIII. 



285 



dered, but as the protestants were still formidable, the cardinal 
granted them favourable conditions of peace. The cause of 
the Hugonots was, however, completely ruined ; they no longer 
retained any of those cautionary towns, by the possession 
of which they could enforce the observance of treaties. They 
were whollj' at the mercy of their enemies, and were destined 
in the next reign to experience how weak is the security of 
promises between the powerful and the feeble. 

27. The cardinal having subdued the Hugonots pre- 
pared to execute his great scheme of humbling the i^oq' 
house of Austria. The war was successful in Italy, 
but it was in Germany that the cardinal more fully displayed 
the resources of his genius, for he had there an ally, whose 
heroism has been rarely paralleled. The emperor Ferdinand, 
by the most flagrant violations of treaties, had provoked the 
protestant princes to take up arms : they found a leader worthy 
of their cause, in Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, whom 
history has honoured with the name of the Lion of the North. 
23. This contest in Germany, which is usually called the 
thirty years' war, was supported by the money of France and 
the soldiers of Sweden ; it was on the whole unfavourable to 
the imperial arms, notwithstanding the great abilities displayed 
by the generals Tilly and Wallenstein. 

29. In the mean 
time, Gaston, duke of 1^*00 
Orleans, instigated by 
the queen-mother, and en- 
couraged by the duke of Lor- 
raine, to whose sister he was 
married, renewed the civil 
war. Weaker even than his 
brother, this prince, the slave 
of unworthy flatterers, com- 
menced rebellions to gratify 
his favourites, and then sacri- 
ficed them to obtain peace. 
The duke of Lorraine was 
punished by the loss of his 
best places, and the forfeiture 
of a great part of his domi- 
nions. The duke of Mont- 
morenci, who had been in- 
duced to join in the plot by the hope of obtaining the office 
of constable, was still more unfortunate. Having fallen into 




Gaston, Duke of Orleans. 



286 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the hands of his enemies, he was sentenced to expiate his am- 
bition on the scaffold, and notwithstanding the great services 
his family had performed to the state, and the interest made 
to save his life by all the nobihty of France, he was publicly 
executed. Gaston's marriage with the princess of Lorraine, 
having been contracted without the royal assent, was declared 
null by the lawyers of Paris, and set aside by the parliament. 
The quarrel between him and his brother was after some time 
accommodated, but bitter hostility still remained in the breasts 
of all the parties. 

30. The death of Gustavus Adolphus, in the arms of victory, 
for a time checked the triumphant career of the protestants in 
Germany; but Richelieu, though the determined enemy of 
the reformed religion in France, saw that by supporting it in 
the empire, he could alone check the exorbitant power of the 
house of Austria. A new treaty was concluded with the duke 
of Saxe Weimar, and additional subsidies were sent to 

,^oJ enable him to carry on the war with vigour. 31. The 
* hostihties between Spain and Holland still continued 
to the great advantage of the latter ; Richelieu entered into 
close alliance with the Dutch, and by a treaty agreed to a par- 
tition of Flanders as if it had been already subdued, 32. The 
first and second campaigns were disastrous to the French ; the 
soldiers mutinied for want of pay ; the Dutch made but little 
exertion, dreading to extend the dominions of a neighbour so 
powerful as France to their frontiers ; the Flemings continued 
faithful to Spain, because their municipal privileges were re- 
spected, and, with the single exception of the duke de Rohan, 
all the French generals exhibited the most signal proofs of 
presumption and incapacity. The Spaniards invaded Picardy, 
and were at first so successful, that the French trembled for 
their capital ; but they lost all their advantages through the 
misconduct of their generals, and the spirit of national resist- 
ance which is roused in a patriotic people by an invasion. It 
would be equally superfluous and tiresome to enter into the 
particulars of a war so complicated, and carried on with such 
obstinacy, in which the strength of the powers was every- 
where exhausted as well by victories as defeats. Suffice it 
to say, that the Spaniards were finally overwhelmed by a series 
of calamities, their armies were defeated by the count d'Har- 
court, the Dutch admiral, Van Tromp, destroyed their fleet, 
Catalonia revolted, and placed itself under the protec- 

1fi4n '■'*^" '^^ France, and Portugal, having thrown off the 
' yoke of Spain, placed the duke of Braganza on its 



LOUIS XIII. 287 

throne. 33. The death of Weimar and Bannier for a time 
dispirited the Swedes, but they had previously so weakened 
the empire by several brilliant victories, that Austria contend- 
ed rather for independence than dominion ; and their new 
leader, Tortenson, seemed not inferior to any of his prede- 
cessors. 

34. The internal history of France presents us during this 
period with nothing but a series of intrigues for overthrowing 
the power of RicheHeu, all of Avhich were disconcerted either 
by his superior skill or the weakness of his enemies. These 
plots were fatal to many of the French nobility, for the car- 
dinal procured from the corrupted courts of justice the con- 
demnation of those who had conspired for his overthrow. He 
continued, however, to veil his passions under an air of gran- 
deur. After the execution of the last victims that were sacri- 
ficed to his jealous fears for his security, he wrote to Louis 
XIII. in the following terms : — " Sire, your enemies are dead, 
and your arms are in Perpignan." That important town had 
been just taken from the Spaniards. 35. But when his 
power seemed to have arrived at its greatest height ; when 
Mary de Medicis, who had been his early patron, but had 
subsequently become his most bitter and dangerous foe, had 
perished in misery and exile at Cologne ; when the nobility 
dreaded him more than their sovereign, and seemed to have 
resigned ail hopes of throwing off the yoke ; at that 
moment he was surprised by the hand of death, and i^a,^ 
was cut short in the midst of his triumphant career. 
36. Richelieu appears to have possessed shining rather than 
solid abihties ; his enterprises were always vast and magni- 
ficent, but were not uniformly important and useful. His 
moral character was of the worst description, unscrupulous in 
the use of any means by which he might retain the situation 
of minister, he corrupted the administration of justice, and 
added to the legal murder of his opponents the mockery of an 
iniquitous trial before tribunals of his own selection. At the 
same time it must be confessed that the cardinal does not ap- 
pear to have been worse than his rivals ; public virtue seems 
at this period to have been banished from France, and if more 
of crimes are recorded of Richelieu than of his antagonists, let 
it be remembered that his situation was more conspicuous. 
In private life he was fond of show and grandeur, his expen- 
diture equalled that of the sovereign, and the palace which he 
erected for his own residence (the Palais Royal) is still one of 
the noblest structures in Paris. He wished to be deemed a 



288 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

patron of the fine arts, and had the vanity to think himself an 
excellent dramatic poet. But to this weakness must be op- 
posed the vigour with which he resisted the whole nobihty of 
France, and destroyed the remnants of their feudal power. It 
was during his administration that the government of France 
was finally formed into an absolute monarchy, and it was the 
remembrance of this that probably induced Peter the Great of 
Russia to exclaim, " I would give half my dominions for one 
Richelieu to teach me how to govern the remainder." 

37. Louis XIII. did not long survive his minister, 
lfi49 ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ apparent resignation in the forty-second 
' year of his age and thirty-third of his reign, leaving 
his kingdom again exposed to all the evils of a long minority, 
for his son and successor had not yet attained his fifth year. 
Louis had so little share in the government of the kingdom, 
that he can scarcely be said to have reigned ; his defective 
education and natural weakness of intellect subjected him com- 
pletely to his servants, and it has been well observed by a late 
writer, that " during this reign Louis XIII. wore the crown, 
and cardinal Richelieu swayed the sceptre." 

By the advice of Mazarin, Louis, just before his death, 
caused a declaration to be prepared for creating a council 
of regency, to consist of the queen, the duke of Orleans 
appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom, the Prince 
of Conde, whose son, the young duke d'Enghien, took the 
command of the army of the north, the Cardinal Mazarin, 
the chancellor, Seguier, De Boutellier, and De Chavigny. 
Desnoyers, the declared servant of the queen, was excluded 
from it. By this, ministers were made a sort of co-regents, 
and the queen and the duke of Orleans were bound to sub- 
mit to the opinion of the majority. Tho queen was out- 
raged by such an arrangement, but she dissembled her indig- 
nation, with a view of letting the king die in peace. Louis 
strongly insisted on this declaration ; he desired that it should 
be irrevocable, and as firmly secured as the Salic law. He 
signed it, and caused it to be signed by the queen and the 
duke of Orleans, and wrote himself below, " The above is 
my express will, which I desire may be carried into execu- 
tion." Afterwards, on transmitting it to the president. Mole, 
he said, " I have settled the affairs of my kingdom. This 
is the only satisfaction lean have in dying." 

His last moments were disturbed by the renewed discon- 
tents of the Fronde. At St. Germain, even the partisans of 
the queen, and those of the ministers, were every day ready 



LOUIS XIII. 



289 



to come to blows. In the midst of these disorders, the kino-, 
left almost alone, wished for death. A few days, however, 
before his death, the young dauphin having said, while play- 
ing in his apartment, " My name is Louis XIV.," the 
monarch started up in surprise, and exclaimed with anger, 
" Not yet." On the 14th of May, 1643, twenty-three years 
to a day after the decease of his father, he expired, leaving 
his crown to his son, then in his nonage. 

" Historians are not agreed," remarks the president, Re- 
nault, " on what grounds Louis XIII. received the surname 
of ' the Just.' Facts do not justify it as they do the epi- 
thets of Henry the Great and Louis the Great. It was not 
enough that Louis XIII. should have had a minister like 
Richelieu ; to merit it, he should have personally assisted, 
as Henry did Sully, as Louis did Colbert." His character 
was essentially feeble in many respects, but where blood 
was to be shed, he placed himself under a stronger mind, 
and Richelieu, with an unflinching hand, " shut the gates of 
mercy." That he himself did not concur in the character 
given of him to posterity, is obvious, from the shrinkings 
which he experienced in declining life. Once being at 
Ecouen, a palace of which the Montmorencies had been 
despoiled, the conscious Louis saw, or thought he saw, the 
ghost of the decapitated duke approaching him in anger. 
The monarch, appalled, attempted to save himself by flight, 
and never returned to the place. 




Lady and Gentleman riding to Court. — SKteenth Century. 

T 



290 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Louis XIV. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



LOUIS XIV.— THE WARS OF THE FRONDE. 



A. D. 



Each party joined to do their best, 
To damn the public interest, 
And herded only in consults 
To put by one another's bolts. 

HUDIBBAS. 

1. Loris XIII. on his death-bed had appointed by 
1 fi*4^' ^^^ ^^'^ ^ council of regency, at the head of which were 
■ placed the queen, Anne of Austria, and the duke of 
Orleans. To insure its execution, he made the queen and the 
duke swear to its observance, after which he ordered it to be 
registered by the parliament. But all his precautions were 
unavailing; the grave had scarcely been closed over him, 
when his will was openly and shamelessly violated. The 
queen, being aided by the duke of Orleans, obtained an arret 
of parliament, giving to her the nomination of the council, 
and the right of appointment to all the great offices of state. 
2. Having thus obtained all the real authority of the kingdom, 



LOUIS XIV. 291 

she chose as her principal adviser and minister, cardinal Ma- 
?arin, a native of Italy, whose diplomatic abilities had recom- 
mended him to the notice of Richelieu, and wij^p seemed to 
have inherited all the ambition and much of the abilities of his 
patron. 3. The war with Spain still continued, and was main- 
tained on the side of Flanders with distinguished ability by 
the duke d'Enghien, afterwards better known by the name of 
" the great Conde." On the death of the king, orders had 
been sent him not to risk an engagement ; but anxious to re- 
lieve the important town of Rocroi, which was closely besieged, 
he resolved to hazard a battle. The Spanish infantry were at 
that time considered the best in Europe ; they boasted that 
their lines had never yet been broken, and deemed that Conde 
was marching to certain defeat. But the judicious manoBU- 
vres of this youthful general soon humbled the pride of the 
Spanish veterans ; in the third charge their ranks were broken, 
and their entire army hopelessly routed. 4. The capture of 
Thionville was the consequence of this brilliant victory, which 
may indeed be said to have placed Flanders at the mercy of 
France. From thence Conde proceeded to Germany, where 
the French had experienced some reverses ; but the presence 
of this young hero soon changed the fortune of the war. 5. 
With inferior forces he attacked the imperialists in their en- 
trenched camp near Friburg, and defeated them after an ob- 
stinate battle which lasted three days. Philipsburgh, Mentz, 
and several other fortresses on the Rhine, were the fruits of 
this brilliant victory. Gaston, duke of Orleans, had a little be- 
fore made himself master of Gravelines, which had sustained 
a vigorous siege for two months. But the French were less 
successful in Catalonia, where Philip IV. defeated their forces, 
and captured the important towns, Lerida and Balaguier. 

6. At the end of the campaign, Conde returned to 
Paris, leaving the command of the army to the mare- t/^^e* 
chal Turenne. This general advanced into the heart 
of the country to take advantage of a great victory gained by 
the Swedish general Torstenson, in Bohemia. On this occa- 
sion, Turenne committed a capital error, the only one, it is 
said, of which he had ever been guilty, by consenting to the 
separation of the allied forces : Merci, the imperial general, 
was not slow in taking advantage of this oppoi'tunity, he at- 
tacked the French at Manendahl in Franconia, and gained a 
complete victory. 7. On the receipt of this news Conde has- 
tened to join Turenne, he then led his forces against the im- 



A. D. 

1648. 



292 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

perialists, attacked them at Nordlingen, and obtained a third 
triumph even more glorious than his preceding victories. 

8. The psifice then marched to besiege Dunkirk, but Maza- 
rin, jealous of his fame and influence, had him removed to the 
command of the army in Catalonia, where, for want of neces- 
sary succours, he could undertake no enterprise of importance. 
His inaction did not long continue ; the emperor's brother, the 
archduke Leopold, having invaded Flanders and compelled 
the French army to retire, it was necessary to recal Conde and 
send him again to the scene of his former glory. He 
was too late to relieve Lens, which surrendered almost 
in his sight. But he well avenged his countrymen in 
the battle that ensued ; he to- 
tally defeated the archduke 
after a brief but sanguinary 
engagement, in which he left 
it doubtful whether he had 
displayed more skill or valour. 
Never since the foundation 
of the monarchy had France 
obtained such a series of 
splendid triumphs ; never be- 
fore had Frenchmen exhibited 
so much courage and conduct. 
9. On the other hand, the 
Spanish monarchy had expe- 
rienced a succession of re- 
verses at least equally re- 
markable ; the loss of Hol- 
land and Portugal had been followed by that of the Brazilian 
settlements in South America, and the most valuable Spanish 
colonies in the East Indies. 10. To these was added about 
this time the revolt of the Neapohtans, who chose as their 
leader a fisherman named Masaniello. This demagogue vi^as 
afterwards murdered by the populace, who had only the day 
before hailed him as a divinity. The insurgents then resolved 
to establish a republic under the protection of France, and 
elected as doge the duke of Guise, who had some hereditary 
claims on Naples. Guise hastened to take possession of his 
new dignity, but receiving no succours from Mazarin, he was 
betrayed to the Spaniards and detained more than four years 
in prison. The Spaniards punished the revolters with fear- 
ful severity ; no less than fourteen thousand are said to have 
been ruthlessly massacred. 11. Experience has given a 




Cardinal Mazarin. 



LOUIS XIV. 293 

further proof of the truth of the remark made by the old Ita- 
lian historian, Giannone, "No people," says he, "is more 
greedy and less capable of liberty than the Neapolitans. Giddy 
in their conduct, inconstant in their affections, unsteady in 
their opinions, they hate the present, and are too much de- 
pressed with the fears or hopes of futurity, according to the 
dictates of impetuous passion." 

12. At length the separate interests of the several contend- 
ing powers required them to think of peace. Spain and Hol- 
land, after a war which had been protracted for eighty years, 
were wearied of the contest ; the former country saw 

that it would be vain to continue any further their la- ioao 
hours for the subjugation of the revolted provinces ; 
and the Dutch had begun to dread the dangerous increase of 
the French power. The complicated interests of the Ger- 
manic body, made the arrangement of the claims of the dif- 
ferent parties a matter of considerable difficulty ; but some new 
successes of the Swedes showed the emperor the danger of 
delay ; and the dread of a civil war in France made Mazarin 
still more anxious to bring matters to a satisfactory conclusion. 
The inferior powers were obliged to follow the example of 
Austria and France ; and at length the articles of the cele- 
brated treaty of WestphaHa were signed at Munster, on the 
24th of October. 

13. Spain and France were now the only countries that re- 
mained at war, and the civil dissensions that were caused in 
the latter by the unpopularity of the government greatly facili- 
tated the progress of the Spanish arms. The hatred that the 
oppressive taxes and despotic edicts of Mazarin inspired, was 
the cause of this war. The parliament of Paris not only re- 
fused to register his edicts, but forgetting the bounds of their 
jurisdiction, abolished the intendants of provinces, who were 
instituted by Louis XIII. ; and the court being filled with in- 
dignation, resolved to strike a decisive blow. By the cardinal's 
orders, a president and counsellor who had been distinguished 
for their vehement speeches against the court were arrested 
and thrown into prison. Upon this the Parisians took up arms, 
threw chains across the streets, erected barricadoes, killed seve- 
ral of the royal army, and had nearly made Mazarin himself 
the victim of their resentment. The cardinal, alarmed at the 
violence of the populace, displayed weakness as cowardly as 
his former proceedings had been rash, and ordered the prison- 
ers to be set at liberty. 

25* 



294 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

14. The opponents of the court took the title of Frondeurs,* 
they were stimulated to action chiefly by the coadjutor to the 
archbishop of Paris, afterwards the celebrated cardinal de 
Retz, a man equally distinguished by abilities and profligacy. 
The leaders of the Fronde were the prince of Conti, brother 
to the great Conde, with the dukes of Longueville, Beaufort, 
Vendome, and Bouillon. Conde, though discontented, sided 
with the court, and when the parliament had declared their 
intention to take up arms, blockaded Paris. 15. This strange 
war was carried on by the pen as much as by the sword ; 
every occurrence was made the subject of a jest or ballad ; 
satires, lampoons, andijeux cf esprit of every description were 
circulated every hour; ladies of rank forgetting the dignity 
of their sex, forced themselves into every political intrigue ; in 
short, the war was ridiculously begun, ridiculously con- 
ifidq ducted, and still more ridiculously concluded. 16. A 

■ seeming accommodation was effected between the par- 
ties, a general amnesty was published, and the court returned 
to Paris. But the following year, the prince of Conde. whose 
pretensions knew no bounds, quarrelled with the cardinal, and 
was, in consequence, sent to prison ; at the same time his 
brother, the prince of Conti, and his friend, the duke of 
Longueville, were arrested. 17. Mazarin could not have re- 
solved on a bolder, or apparently a more successful measure. 
The populace celebrated with bonfires the imprisonment of 
those princes whom they had a few months before looked on 
as their patrons and defenders, and followed with shouts in the 
train of a minister so lately the object of their execration. 
But the intemperate vanity of JVIazarin rendered this tranquil- 
lity of short duration ; he affronted GJaston, duke of 

•tar.{ Orleans, a man ever ready to change sides, and pro- 

■ voked the Frondeurs, who still breathed sedition. The 
parliament demanded the release of the imprisoned princes, 

* The origin of this name has been variously narrated, but the 
following account appears to be the most probable : — 

At the commencement of the troubles, Bachaumont, a counsellor 
of the parliament, sportively said, that his associates were like 
school-boys, amusing themselves with a. fronde (sling) in one of the 
city ditches ; they dispersed themselves whenever the civil lieu- 
tenant approached, and collected together as soon as he had turned 
his back. This comparison was considered so applicable, that it 
was celebrated in songs, and on the same evening the parliament- 
party put bands resembling slings round their hats. From thence- 
forward the opponents of the court were caWeA. frondeurs. 



LOUIS XIV. 295 

and pronounced sentence of perpetual banishment against the 
cardinal. Mazarin went in person to release the prince of 
Conde and his associates, hoping that he might be able to at- 
tach them to his interest, but received from them only marks 
of contempt. He then retired to Liege and afterwards to 
Cologne, whence he still governed the queen-regent as abso- 
lutely as if he had never quitted the court. 

18. Conde took up arms against the court, and was opposed 
by Turenne, who had formerly been a leader of the Fronde. 
The two great generals came to an engagement under the 
walls of Paris, in which the royalists were victorious, though 
the daughter of the duke of Orleans, by turning the cannon 
of the bastille against the king's forces, prevented them from 
immediately reaping the fruits of their triumph. 

19. As the hatred against the minister seemed implacable, 
the king consented to his removal, and dismissed him after 
having made his eulogium in a declaration. The Parisians 
then joyfully opened their gates to their sovereign, and the 
face of affairs was entirely changed. The duke of Orleans 
went to end his days in banishment, the cardinal de Retz was 
imprisoned, and Conde took refuge with the Spaniards, where, 
like the constable of Bourbon, he found that ail his former in- 
fluence and all his former glory were annihilated the moment 
that he became a traitor. 

20. To the storms of the Fronde succeeded so still 

a calm that Mazarin again appeared peaceably at court, i^eo 
resumed all his authority, and saw himself courted by 
every body, even by the parliament ; a conclusion worthy of 
an absurd war, the history of which, as was observed by 
Conde, after he had played his part in it, deserved only to be 
written in burlesque verse. The faction of that prince were 
called the party of the petits rnaitres, because they wanted to 
make themselves masters of the state. In a short time the 
name petits rnaitres, given to youthful coxcombs, and the 
term Frondeurs, applied to factious censurers of the govern- 
ment, were the only relics of these foolish wars. 

21. The Spaniards, during these contests, recovered many 
of their former losses, and deprived France of the advantages 
that it had obtained from the victories of the great Conde. 
That prince was now in arms against his country, and would 
have exposed it to the greatest dangers had he not been op- 
posed by Turenne. These great rivals attracted the attention 
of all Europe. Turenne had been deemed an unequal match 
for Conde, but the prince was not in a situation to display his 



296 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

military talents ; he was depressed by the consciousness of 
fighting against his countrymen, and was besides unable to 
convince the Spanish generals, equally ignorant and obstinate, 
of the superior merit of his own plans. 22. England, at this 
time under the vigorous administration of Cromwell, may be 
said to have held the balance of European power; the alliance 
of the protector was eagerly courted by both parties, but at 
length Mazarin prevailed by his excessive complaisance, not 
to say meanness. The English auxiliaries restored 
-I ana superiority to the French. Turenne, aided by six 
■ thousand British troops, laid siege to Dunkirk, while 
the port was blocked up by twenty sail of English men-of-war. 
Don John of Austria and the prince of Conde marched to its 
rehef ; Turenne attacked them near Dunes, and gained a 
complete victory, a consequence which the prince of Conde 
had predicted when he saw the bad dispositions which were 
made against his will. The fruits of this triumph were the 
surrender of Dunkirk, which was garrisoned by the English, 
and the capture of all the frontier towns in the Spanish Neth- 
erlands. 23. Completely crushed by the weight of the war, 
Spain began to turn her thoughts on peace, and Mazarin 
anxiously negotiated a marriage between Louis and the infanta. 
It would be, perhaps, paying too high a compliment to Maza- 
rin's prophetic power, to say that he foresaw that in conse- 
quence of this marriage the throne of Spain would devolve to 
the family of the Bourbons ; but such a contingency was fore- 
seen, as there was an express renunciation of the infanta's 
claim inserted in the articles, which eventually shared the fate 
of all similar renunciations, that is to say, was violated on the 
first opportunity. 

24. During the negotiation of this treaty, which 
l^pq'o was named that of the Pyrennees, Charles II., the 

i('e-f\ exiled monarch of England, came to Fontarabia to 
sohcit the protection of the two crowns, but neither 
Mazarin nor the Spanish minister, Don Louis de Haro, would 
deign so much as to listen to him. But at this very moment, 
when all his hopes seemed blighted, a counter-revolution took 
place in England, and by the aid of general Monk, Charles 
was restored to the throne of his ancestors. 

25. In the following year died cardinal Mazarin, as absolute 
master of the state as Richelieu had been, displaying the 
same pomp, though he had first put on the appearance of 
modesty, and leaving to his heirs an immense fortune, accu- 
mulated by means that exposed him to just reproaches. His 



LOUIS XIV. 



297 




LOUIS XIV. 299 

nieces were married to the most illustrious nobles of France 
and Italy ; their portions were paid out of the public funds, 
which greatly exhausted the finances. Mazarin does not 
appear to have been a man of brilliant abilities, but he pos- 
sessed good sense and good fortune, qualities sufficient to make 
a great though not a good minister. It would, however, be 
unjust to refuse him the praise he merits for having negociated 
the treaties of Westphalia and the Pyrennees ; the title of 
peace-maker is glorious, and the wars thus concluded had 
caused many miseries, devastations, and massacres. 




300 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




The Grand Dauphin, Son of Louis XIV., and a Lady of the Court. 



CHAPTER XXXIl. 



LOUIS XIV. TO THE TREATY OF RYSWICK. 



There shall they rot — ambition's honour'd fools ! 
Yet. honour decks the turf that wraps their clay! 
Vain sophistry ! in these behold the tools ! 
The broken tools, that tyrants cast away 
By myriads, when they dare to pave their way 
With human hearts — to what? — a dream alone. 
Can despots compass aus^ht that holds their sway? 
Or call with truth one spot of earth their own, 
Save that wherein at last they crumble bone by bone. 
« Btkoit. 

1. It was not imagined that Louis XIV. after hav- 
Ififil ^'^^ ^° '°"? delegated his authoritj^ to another, would 
have assumed the reins of government on the death of 
his minister. Ill-educated, ignorant of business, addicted to 
pleasure, and of an age in which the passions usually predo- 
minate over reason, it was naturally supposed that, like so 
many other princes, he would have devolved the cares of the 
state on some new favourite, and devoted himself to sensual 



LOUIS XIV. 301 

enjoyments. But the predominant passions of his soul were 
ambition of military glory, and a thirst for extensive domi- 
nions ; even during the life of Mazarin he had been impatient 
of the yoke, and no sooner was he liberated from it by the 
death of the cardinal than he declared his resolution to be 
sovereign of France in fact as well as in name. 2. The 
finances, under the administration of the able Colbert, were 
retrieved from their former ruinous state, and became a source 
of prosperity and splendour; the prince of Conde and mar- 
shal Turenne, now happily united, were the greatest generals 
of the age ; and Louvois, the minister at war, possessed abili- 
ties capable of directing the greatest exploits. 3. While 
France was thus happily situated, the rest of Europe exhibited 
nothing but weakness. Holland, though powerful by sea, was 
destitute of an army ; the empire, weakened by late wars, was 
scarcely able to resist the arms of the Turks ; England, under 
the profligate government of Charles II. had lost all the 
authority which she had acquired during the protectorate ; 
Spain, governed by women and priests, was sunk almost be- 
low contempt, and the northern powers, engaged in petty dis- 
putes, possessed no influence on the continent. It is no 
wonder that, under these circumstances, Louis secretly che- 
rished the hope of making the French monarchy the first in 
Europe, and obtaining for it that pre-eminence which it had 
possessed in the reign of Charlemagne. 

4. Before the commencement of the war which developed 
these designs, Louis gave several signal proofs of his spirit, 
and also of his political skill. He threatened to renew the 
war with Spain, unless the right of precedence was conceded 
to his ambassador, and actually sent an army into Italy to 
punish the pope for an insult offered to the French embassy, 
and which had been provoked by insolence and outrage. Dun- 
kirk was purchased from the necessitous Charles II., to the 
great and just displeasure of the English people, who saw it, 
when strengthened by new fortifications, become a powerful 
bulwark of France, and a port formidable to the English trade 
from the protection it afforded privateers in time of war. As- 
sistance was sent to the Austrians; by which they were ena- 
bled to check the progress of the Turks ; and by the aid of 
some French forces, the independence of Portugal was finally 
completed. 5. Commercial jealousy had led to a war between 
England and Holland, which was equally injurious to both 
countries. Louis supported the Dutch, and aided them by a 
powerful fleet, which the judicious measures of Colbert may 
26 



302 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Colbert. 



be almost said to have created. 

Holland was at this time go- 
verned by the grand pension- 
ary, John de Wit, who opposed 
the English with equal wisdom 
and resolution. Several fierce 
naval engagements were 
fought without any decisive 
advantage being gained, and 
England soon began to disco- 
ver that the war was any thing 
but politic. The great plague 
and the great fire of London 
were national calamities that 
calmed the desire for war. Ne- 
gociations were commenced at Breda, but before the 
-lan^ peace was concluded, the EngHsh had the mortification 
to see de Ruyter enter the Thames and burn several 
vessels. The treaty was not, however, broken off by this event, 
and the articles were, on the whole, favourable to England. 

6. Although by the treaty of the Pyrennees, the queen of 
France had resigned all claim to the dominions of her father, 
yet Louis formed the design of reviving some of those rights, 
and securing a portion of that vast succession. The emperor 
Leopold and the French king had actually entered into a treat}-- 
for the partition of the Spanish dominions, by which it was 
agreed that France should receive Brabant and the Nether- 
lands, and that Spain should be given to Leopold, if, as seemed 
probable, Charles, the reigning monarch, should die without 
issue. Both parties seemed ashamed of the agreement, and 
took the most extraordinary precautions to keep it a profound 
secret. No copy was taken of the instrument, and the original, 
locked up in an iron box, of which the two sovereigns alone 
kept the keys, was entrusted to the care of the grand duke of 
Tuscany. 7. But Louis claimed Flanders also in right of his 
wife, because, by the law of inheritance established in that 
country, the female issue by a first marriage succeeded in pre- 
ference to the male offspring of a second union. 

8. Aided by such able ministers and generals, the 
, «^J king marched to certain conquest, Flanders and Franche 
' Comte were subdued before the end of the second 
campaign, and would probably have been annexed to the do- 
minions of France had not all Europe taken alarm at the 
dangers with which its repose was threatened by the rapid 



LOUIS XIV. 303 

progress of the French arms. England, Sweden, and Hol- 
land formed a triple alliance to check the ambitious career of 
Louis, and he was very unwillingly compelled to resign the 
greater part of his conquests, and confirm anew the treaty of 
the Pyrennees. 

9. The French monarch was naturally indignant at being 
thus deprived of a prey which had seemed certain. He was 
particularly enraged against the Dutch, whom he had assisted 
when attacked by the English and the bishop of Munster. 
He thirsted for revenge and conquest, neglecting no means 
which were likely to insure both. 10. His most important 
measure was to break the alliance between England and Hol- 
land, which being dictated by mutual interest, seemed likely 
to be permanent ; but with a perfect knowledge of the cha- 
racter of the English king, Louis prepared to assail him by 
two powerful bribes, a pension and a mistress. Suspected by 
his parliament of a design to introduce popery and arbitrary 
power, Charles was not able to procure from his people money 
enough to support his lavish expenditure ; a slave to depraved 
passion, it was judged probable that the charms of Madame 
de Kerouille would be sufficient to ensnare his heart. To 
complete this disgusting scene, the entire negociation was en- 
trusted to the duchess of Orleans, Charles's own sister, and by 
her intervention a secret alliance was concluded against Hol- 
land; the king of England became the pensioner of France, 
and to secure his obedience, Madame de Kerouille, created 
duchess of Portsmouth, became chief favourite of the degraded 
sovereign. H. The emperor Leopold was engaged in war 
with his Hungarian subjects, the German princes were for the 
most part purchased by the French monarch, Sweden was 
bribed to desert the alliance, Spain was utterly helpless, and 
Louis thought himself sure of easily conquering the defence- 
less republic. 

12. As there was no solid reason for the war, re- 
course was had to the most ridiculous pretences. A. -i/^y-i* 
medal had been struck, on which was an inscription, 
stating that Holland had secured the laws, purified religion, 
succoured, defended, and reconciled the monarchs, asserted 
the freedom of the seas, and established the tranquillity of 
Europe. This innocent piece of national vanity was gravely 
denounced as a serious grievance ; the Dutch broke the die, 
but Charles and Louis had taken their resolution, and war was 
declared. 



304 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

13. Holland was at this time divided into two factions ; the 
pensionary de Wit had caused William III. to be formally- 
excluded from the stadtholdership, but with a generosity of 
which history furnishes but few parallels, he had taken care 
that the young prince should receive such an education as 
would be most likely to render him capable of serving the 
state in any department. William, who was afterwards the 
king of England, showed from his earliest youth proofs of the 
great talents which were destined to preserve the liberties of 
Europe ; but he was naturally ambitious to recover the dignity 
that had been transmitted to him by his ancestors, and was ani- 
mated rather by a desire of revenge on de Wit than by love for 
his country. 14. Though the grand pensionary had raised the 
naval power of Holland to its highest summit, he left 
-i^'^A the country totally unprovided with land forces, deem- 
■ ing an invasion so improbable, that it was not necessary 
to provide against it. Louis marched at the head of all his 
forces, accompanied by his most illustrious generals, against 
the Httle republic. 15. He passed the Rhine almost without 
any difficulty, as the river was low and the opposite bank badly 
defended. But this trivial success was magnified by a host 
of poets and historians, who formed a regular corps of attend- 
ance, into one of the greatest exploits of ancient and modern 
times. The greater part of the provinces were subdued al- 
most without resistance ; the cannon of the invaders could be 
heard in Amsterdam, and flying parties of the enemy had ap- 
peared within sight of its gates. 16. Like the Phocceans in 
ancient history, the Dutch seriously deliberated on the project 
of flying in their fleet to the East Indies, and seeking hberty 
in another country, leaving their own to Louis a useless desert. 
De Wit sent deputies to treat about a surrender, notwithstand- 
ing the opposition of the prince of Orange, who, with all the 
energies of youth and valour, insisted that they should defend 
themselves to the utmost extremity. 17. The intolerable con- 
ditions prescribed by Louis were fatal to de Wit; no sooner 
were they made known to the populace, than, maddened by 
indignation and despair, they fell on the grand pensionary and 
his brother, and literally tore them to pieces. The young 
prince of Orange was created stadtholder, and invested with 
almost absolute authority. 18. His speech on the occasion 
was brief and characteristic — " I have a sure method," said 
he, "to prevent my being a witness of my country's ruin, I 
can die in her last diich." The entire of the united provinces 



LOUIS XIV. 305 

seemed to be animated by a similar spirit ; they cut the dikes 
which had been erected to keep out the sea, and thus laid the ♦ 
whole country under water. At sea, their navy, though op- 
posed to the combined fleets of England and France, by 
the valour and dexterity of Ruyter was able to prevent their 
enemies from becoming masters of that element. 19. The 
eyes of all Europe were opened to the dangerous ambition of 
Louis XIV. : Germany, Denmark, and Spain came forward 
to rescue the Hollanders, and the people of England loudly 
complained of the impolicy which had forced them into a war 
with a nation, the destruction of whose liberties would proba- 
bly have been fatal to their own. Charles 11. seeing the tem- 
per of the parliament, and having no hope of obtaining new 
subsidies, sold a peace to the Dutch for a bribe of three hun- 
dred thousand pounds. However, he still left a body of ten 
thousand troops at the disposal of Louis, but promised not to 
recruit their losses. 

20. Unable to retain the provinces, Louis was obliged to re- 
lease them on the payment of a ransom, and the tide, of war 
flowed to the Spanish Netherlands, which had been almost 
abandoned by the parent state. The prince of Conde was 
opposed to the stadtholder, marechal Turenne found an anta- 
gonist worthy of him in Montecuculi the imperial general, and 
Louis himself headed the army that invaded Franche Comte. 
The bare enumeration of the battles fought in these campaigns 
would be sufficient to fill a volume ; Montecuculi and William 
in. were generals equal in ability to Conde and Turenne, they 
therefore checked the French in their career of conquest, with- 
out being able to obtain any very decisive advantage. Battles 
were fought, and an immensity of human blood spilled, but 
their only efl^ect was to display the talents of the leaders and 
their utter disregard for waste of hves. 2L During these pro- 
tracted contests, Turenne sullied all his former glory by an ac- 
tion of the most savage barbarity, which he perpetrated by 
order of his court. The elector palatine having deserted the 
cause of France, orders were given to lay waste his country ; 
the cruel edict was fearfully executed ; two cities and twenty- 
five villages were reduced to ashes, and their innocent inhabit- 
ants left to perish by cold and hunger ! The unfortunate 
elector who witnessed the devastation from the walls of his 
palace at Manheim, sent to challenge Turenne to a personal 
combat ; but the French general replied, that, " from the time 
he had been honoured with the command of the French forces, 
he never fought but at the head of twenty thousand men." 
26* U 



306 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

The military career of those leaders whose renown 
,^'Ji' filled Europe, terminated nearly at the same time. Tu- 
* renne was killed at the battle of Salzbach ; Conde, who 
succeeded him in opposing the imperialists, retired at the end 
of the campaign from public life, and his example was followed 
by Montecuculi, who was unwilling to hazard in a contest with 
younger men the reputation that he had previously acquired. 
De Ruyter, whose naval exploits had rivalled their fame, was 
killed in an engagement with a French fleet in the Mediterra- 
nean ; after having risen from an humble cabin boy, to be the 
best admiral in Europe. The war, however, was still pro- 
tracted, and France made considerable acquisitions in the Spa- 
nish Netherlands. 22. But the resources of all parties were 
exhausted, and by the mediation of the king of England, who 
had given his niece, Mary, in marriage to the prince of Orange, 
negociations for peace were opened at Nimeguen, Four days 
after the treaty was signed, the prince of Orange, who ardently 
desired to continue the war, attacked the French, under the 
duke of Luxemburg, near Mons, but, after an useless sacrifice 
of the lives of his soldiers, was compelled to retire. 

23. The Dutch, against whom the war had been 
tf^ja begun, and whose very existence seemed at one time 
' in danger, were restored to all their possessions at the 
conclusion ; the terms between the French and Germans were 
nearly the same as those of the treaty of Munster; but Spain 
and Sweden, who had joined only as auxiliaries, were severely 
punished, the former was compelled to cede the greater part 
of the Netherlands to France, the latter was stripped of all 
her influence in the empire. 

24. Louis having dictated the terms of the peace of Nime- 
guen, became intoxicated with his successes, and, by his con- 
duct, provoked the hostility of the greater part of Europe. He 
seized on several dependencies of the neighbouring Germanic 
states, under the pretence that they belonged to Franche 
Comte: he compelled the free city of Strasburg to receive a 
French garrison : and though he retired from the siege of 
Luxemburg, when the empire was endangered by an invasion 
of the Turks, he returned to it again when the Mohammedans 
were driven out by the valiant king of Poland, John Sobieski. 
Spain and Austria, unable to resist his power, purchased peace 
again by making fresh concessions : but they retained a bitter 
sense of their degradation, and were resolved to seek the ear- 
liest opportunity of obtaining vengeance. Algiers was bomb- 
arded by the French, and the pirates forced to beg for mercy ; 



LOUIS XIV. 



307 




John Sobieski. 

Genoa was similarly punished, and its magistrates compelled 
to make the most humiliating submissions to save the republic 
from ruin. 25. But all these triumphs were more than coun- 
terbalanced by the death of Colbert, whose labours to establish 
a good system of finance were less valuable than his success- 
ful efforts to prevent the renewal of religious persecutions. 

26. Colbert protected the Hugonots, from a convic- 
tion that they were as useful as the other subjects of the i/.'or 
crown, and that a persecution would produce nothing 
but mischief; but by his death they were delivered up to the 
chancellor le Tellier, and his son, the marquis de Louvois, two 
men whose maxim was that every thing civil and religious 
should be regulated according to the king's pleasure. In 1684, 
they sent troops into the districts inhabited by Protestants, and 
Louvois wrote, that it was his majesty'' s pleasure that all who 
did not conform to his religion shoidd suffer the greatest se- 
verities. The soldiers sent to enforce this absurd and cruel 
declaration were principally cavalry, whence the persecution 
has been commonly called the dragonnade : every cruelty 
that could be perpetrated by a licentious and rapacious soldiery 
was committed with impunity, and by an excess of cruelty it 
was made a capital offence for Protestants to attempt making 
their escape out of the kingdom. 27. In the following year 



308 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the edict of Nantz, by which Henry IV. had established the 
principles of religious libert)'-, was revoked, freedom of con- 
science was abolished, all the Hugonot churches were de- 
biroyed, declarations and decrees of councils followed one an- 
other in rapid succession to heighten their despair, and at 
length orders were issued to take away the children of Pro- 
testants from their parents and give them to the care of their 
Catholic relations. Notwithstanding all the precautions of 
Louis, nearly half a million of Protestants quitted France, 
carrying with them some wealth, but what was still more 
valuable, much industry and ingenuity, the true riches of a 
nation. England, Holland, and Germany gladly received 
these useful fugitives, who carried into other countries the 
knowledge of those manufactures which had been hitherto 
confined to France, and who diffused through all the Protestant 
nations of Europe an intense hatred of Louis, which the sub- 
sequent wars gave them many opportunities of displaying. 

28. The prince of Orange, whom the French pretended to 
despise, was far their most formidable enemy ; the just repre- 
sentations that he made to the different European powers of 
the grasping ambition of Louis, had mainly contributed to the 
formation of the league of Augsburg, by which the confede- 
rates engaged to preserve the boundaries agreed on by the 
treaties of Munster and Nimeguen. Louis did not want this 
fresh provocation to stimulate him to war; he resolved to an- 
ticipate the designs of his enemies, and sent an army of a hun- 
dred thousand men under the command of the dauphin to 
invade the empire, which was filled with dismay. 29. Phi- 
lipsburg, Mentz, Spires, and several other important cities 
Avere taken, and the Palatinate was again cruelly given up 
to the flames. This little principality, which the industry and 
peaceable habits of its inhabitants had made the most thriving 
and happy state of Germany, was literally turned into a 
desert ; more than forty cities, and an infinite number of vil- 
lages, were reduced to ashes. But while Louis was thus 
engaged, events were taking place in England, which were 
soon destined to make that nation the most determined and 
formidable of his enemies, by placing on its throne the prince 
of Orange, whose hatred of Louis seemed to be almost equally 
personal and political. 

30. The attacks which James IL had made on the 

Tfi^ hberties and religion of the country, had made the 

* English nation weary of their sovereign, and induced 

them to apply to the prince of Orange. An expedition was 



LOUIS XIV. 309 

prepared in the Dutch ports, and Louis, who had discovered 
its destination, sent intelligence to the besotted James, who 
treated it as chimerical. WiUiam III. landed in England, and 
in a very short time was joined by the whole nation. Deserted 
by his friends, and despised by his enemies, James fled to 
France, and the convention-parliament considering his flight 
as an abdication of the throne, elected William king of Great 
Britain. The greatest opposition to this signal revolution was 
made in Ireland, whither James proceeded from France ac- 
companied by some auxiliary troops. But misfortune still 
pursued the unhappy sovereign ; he was unable to reduce the 
town of Derry, which its inhabitants defended under the most 
discouraging circumstances. Soon after, William landed, and 
at the decisive battle of the Boyne James lost Ireland. The 
Irish, indeed, held out for some time longer, but at length a 
treaty was concluded at Limerick, by which that island be- 
came completely subject to WiUiam. 

8L The war on the continent was on the whole 
favourable to the arms of France; the marechal de ^oqA 
Luxembourg proved himself a pupil worthy of the 
great Conde and Turenne ; William was defeated by Luxem- 
bourg, and Namur was taken by Louis almost in sight of the 
hostile army. In Italy, the marechal Catinat successfully 
opposed prince Eugene, and Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy ; 
de Lorges and de Noailles were equally fortunate in Spain 
and Germany. 32. But these advantages were counterbal- 
anced by the total defeat of the French fleet under Tourville, 
off Cape la Hogue. James II. beheld from a neighbouring 
eminence this calamity, by which all his hopes of being re- 
stored to the throne of his ancestors were for ever annihilated. 
It is said, that when he saw the English sailors boarding the 
enemy's ships with their accustomed heroism, admiration of 
their valour overcame his remembrance of the cause in which 
they fought, and he exclaimed, "None but my brave English 
could have done this." 33. The war continued with very 
little advantage to either party ; men and money were lavishly 
wasted, and nothing gained. Mutual exhaustion made all 
heartily wish for peace, or rather a suspension of arms, for 
treaties were universally disregarded. Four treaties ^ ^ 
were concluded at Ryswick, a small village in Hoi- ^qq'^ 
land, the conditions of which, notwithstanding all his 
victories, were very humiliating to Louis. He was compelled 
to restore all his conquests, and to resign those districts which 
he had seized on as appendages to Franche Comte. 



310 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

9 

34. The people of France murmured at such a conchision 
of a war which had gratified their national vanity by numer- 
ous triumphs. But many circumstances combined to make 
Louis wish for peace : his able minister, Louvois, and his best 
general, Luxembourg, were dead ; losses not easy to be sup 
plied ; the finances were exhausted, the taxes, though severe 
on the people, were not very profitable to the king, and the 
navy was beginning to fall into disorder. Besides, he saw 
that peace was necessary for maturing his designs on the 
Spanish succession ; an object which he had so much at 
heart, that he not only acknowledged William's title to the 
throne of England, but even attempted to conciliate him by 
secret negociations. 

By the treaty of Ryswick, all the conquests made by 
Louis since the treaty of Ninieguen were given up, and 
William IIL solemnly recognized as king of England, to the 
exclusion of the Stuarts from the throne. The treaty with 
the emperor and the empire was not signed till 30th Octo- 
ber. Louis XIV. retained Strasbourg; but he relinquished 
all the places which he had gained since the treaty of Nime- 
guen, and Fribourg, Philisbourg, and Brisach. Leopold, son 
of Duke Charles V., regained possession of Lorraine, with 
the exception of Sarrelouis, the king of France reserving to 
himself the right of a free passage through the duchy. Cle- 
ment of Bavaria was recognized by Louis XIV. as elector 
of Cologne ; the Cardinal de Furstemberg was reinstated in 
his property, honours, and dignity, by the emperor ; finally, 
the pretensions of the duchess of Orleans to the succession 
of the Palatinate was arranged by a pecuniary indemnity. 

Whatever might be the good disposition of the parties who 
were concerned in all the treaties made since the peace of 
Westphalia, to maintain what statesmen now began to call 
" the equilibrium of Europe," they proved, through the 
influence of some parties, or by the force of events, merely 
armistices. At Nimeguen, as at Aix-la-Chapelle, as at Ra- 
tisbon, it was Louis XIV. who reserved to himself, in petto, 
the right and the occasion to recommence the war. At 
Ryswick he wished for peace, as did every one ; but the 
course of events decided otherwise. 

In the course of ten years, the expenses of the war had 
absorbed 703,416,000 francs. The re-coinage and the 
alteration in the money current, by deteriorating it, had given 
40,000,000. The » taille," or poll-tax, had been doubled ; 
small towns erected into governments ; the titles of the 



LOUIS XIV. 



311 



noblesse, the offices of the municipal functionaries were 
sold, and forty thousand new offices were created in the 
course of thirty years. Ponchartrain, we read in the Me- 
moirs of Choissy, had produced in eight years 150,000,000 
by means of parchment and wax, in imagining situations, 
and making foolish bubbles for sale, which were readily 
sold. Necessity caused an impost to be created, in the 
shape of a capitation tax, which produced 22,000,000 francs. 
But the people perceived the embarrassments of the govern- 
ment ; and the treaty of Ryswick did not take place before 
it was ardently desired by every class of Louis's subjects. 




French Postilion.— Fifteenth Century. 



312 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Louis XIV., Madame de Maintenon, and Philip, Duke of Orleans. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 
LOUIS XIV.— THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 



A. D. 



Does he not mourn the valiant thousands slain — 

The heroes once the glory of the plain, 

Left in the conflict of the fatal day, 

Or the wolfs portion, or the vulture's prey ? 

Priob. 

1. The last male descendant of the emperor 
iTrtO C^harles V. was Charles II., king of Spain, a monarch 
equally weak in health and intellect. He was fast 
sinking into the grave, and as he had no children, the ques- 
tion of his succession was the chief object of speculation 
throughout Europe. The king of France and the emperor 
of Germany were both his cousins and his brothers-in-law ; 
their claims to the inheritance were therefore nearly equal, 
but Louis, who in both ways had the advantage of seniority in 
the princesses from whom his right was derived, had formally 
resigned all his pretensions by the treaty of the Pyrennees. 
Before the inheritance was yet vacant, a treaty of partition 
was made for dividing the Spanish monarchy between the 



LOUIS XIV. 



313 



sons of the claimantl ; but the dying monarch, having heard 
of the circumstance, published a will in favour of his grand- 
nephew, the young prince of Bavaria. This prince dying 
almost immediately after at Brussels, a new treaty was formed; 
but the emperor, hoping to acquire the whole of the Spanish 
dominions for his son, refused his assent ; and thus by grasp- 
ing at too much lost all. At first, Charles of Spain was so 
much enraged with Louis, that he acknowledged the arch- 
duke as his successor; but the Austrians satisfied with this 
took no further pains to conciliate Charles, and by their con- 
tumelious behaviour disgusted a prince, who naturally expected 
the liveliest gratitude for so rich a bequest. The king's con- 
fessors, who were in the pay of France, took advantage of this 
to change his mind, and prevailed on him, a little before his 
death, finally to bequeath the whole Spanish monarchy to the 
duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. 

2. Such was the astonishment of all Europe at beholding a 
prince of the Bourbon family ascend the throne of Spain, tha-t 
all the powers except the empire remained for some time in 
perfect tranquillity. The duke of Anjou, under the name of 
Philip v., set out to take possession of the crown, and his 
grandfather said to him at parting, there are no more Pyren- 
nees. 3. In Italy the resistance to the will of Charles II. be- 
gan ; the imperial forces there were commanded by a general, 
whose fame soon began to rival that 
of the most illustrious warriors ; a na- 
tive of France, and its severest scourge. 
Prince Eugene was son of the count 
de Soissons and of madame Marcini, 
niece of cardinal Mazarin ; being 
slighted in his youth by the French 
court, he took an eternal farewell of 
his country, and went to serve the 
emperor against the Turks. His abil- 
ities accelerated his promotion, and 
though very young, he was entrusted 
with the command of the imperial 
forces in Italy, and opposed to the 

veteran Catenat. The French general, restrained by orders 
from his court, was unable to check the progress of prince 
Eugene ; Villenois, a crafty courtier rather than a prudent 
general, was then sent to head the army, but he was totallj'' 
defeated by the imperial generals at Chiari. 

4. The war was yet but a single spark, when Louis, by 
27 




Prince Eugene, 



314 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

one imprudent step, kindled a general conflagration. On the 
death of James II. he proclaimed his son king of Great 
Britain, after having determined in council not to lake this 
dangerous step. The indignation of the people of England 
was the most violent imaginable. William, who had hitherto 
been thwarted by his parliament, found them ready to forward 
all his views, and the nation, which had been previously 
averse to a continental war, were eager to punish such an 
outrageous insult. 5. But before William was able to take 
advantage of this favourable opportunity of accomplishing his 
favourite object, the humbling of the French power, he was 
unfortunately thrown from his horse, an accident which, 
■ijne^ combined with his previous ill-health, proved fatal. It 
has been quaintly said, that he was king of Holland 
and Stadtholder of England, the parliament of the latter coun 
try having always opposed his inclinations, except when 
animated by their national hatred against France. His highest 
character is, that he was the principal means of rescuing from 
ruin the religion and liberties both of England and Holland. 

6. The French court had hoped that the death of William 
would have separated England from the confederates, but the 
first step taken by Anne after her accession, was to renew the 
aUiance with Holland and the empire. The command of the 
English and Dutch forces was given to the earl of Marl- 
borough, whose abihties both as a general and as a statesman 
have had but one parallel in English history. 7. While the 
allies were under the direction of such leaders as Marlborough 
and prince Eugene, France had fallen into extraordinary 
decay; Louis, completely under the guidance of his mistress, 
Madame de Maintenon, had lost all the energy of character 
by which he had been formerly distinguished. The opera- 
tions of the' war were decided in the cabinets, no discretion of 
availing themselves of circumstances was allowed to the gene- 
rals, discipline was permitted to decay, and promotion was re- 
gulated by court favour. 8. On the side of Flanders, the earl 
of Marlborough was everywhere successful, but the junction 
of the elector of Bavaria with the French prevented the allies 
from obtaining any decisive advantage on the upper Rhine, 
where at first they had possessed a great superiority. 9. The 
French did not, however, profit much by their advantages; 
marechal Villars, whose valour and prudence principally con- 
tributed to their success, was recalled, in consequence of a 
quarrel between him and the elector of Bavaria ; the generals 
sent to replace him were of inferior abilities, and the war was 



LOUIS XIV. 315 

permitted to linger. Villars was sent to command against the 
protestants of the Cevennes, who, maddened by persecution, 
had taken up arms against their oppressors. These wild 
mountaineers derived so much courage from fanaticism, that 
three marshals of France, and three royal armies, were sent 
against them before they were subdued. The emperor also 
was engaged in a religious war with his Hungarian subjects, 
whom a better system of government would have made his 
most faithful defenders. 

10. At length the doubts which hung over the final 
fortunes of the war began to be dispelled, and Louis -i-^rw^ 
was destined to meet a succession of calamitous defeats, 
which effaced the memory of his former triumphs. The forces 
of the empire being hard pressed in Germany, Marlborough, 
who had lately been elevated to a dukedom, by a brilliant 
series of manoeuvres forced his way through the French lines 
near Donawert, and joined his forces with those of prince 
Eugene ; at the same lime the elector of Bavaria was joined 
by the French marechals Tallard and Marsin. The forces of 
the alhes amounted to about fifty thousand men ; those of the 
elector exceeded sixty thousand. On the 18th of August, both 
armies came to an engagement near the villages of Hochstet 
and Blenheim. The left wing of the allies, under the com- 
mand of the duke of Marlborough, forded a marsh which had 
been deemed impracticable, and fell with so much fury on the 
wing commanded by marechal Tallard, that they broke their 
ranks irretrievably, and penetrated even to the centre. Tallard, 
who was short-sighted, threw himself into the midst of a hos- 
tile squadron by mistake, and remained a prisoner. In the 
meantime, Eugene, after being three times repulsed, forced the 
elector and Marsin to a retreat, which the advance of the vic- 
torious English turned into a complete rout. 11. They fled, 
leaving twelve thousand of their best troops shut up in the 
village of Blenheim, who were compelled to surrender with- 
out firing a shot. The consequences of this brilHant victory, 
by which the French lost forty thousand men, were the cap- 
ture of several of the most important fortresses on the upper 
Rhine, the establishment of the complete superiority of the 
alhes in the Netherlands, and the total subjugation of Bavaria, 
whose elector, reduced to the condition of a fugitive, took re- 
fuge in Brussels. The capture of Gibraltar, and some 
other triumphs of less importance in Spain, completed |«vq=' 
the successes of the allies in this brilliant campaign. 
13. The following year produced no events of importance, 



316 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

either in Flanders or Germany ; Marlborough was badly sup- 
ported by the imperialists, who, as usual, thought that the 
English should fight as well as pay all. But in Spain, the 
earl of Peterborough, who commanded the auxiliaries which 
had been sent to sustain the cause of Charles, subdued the 
whole province of Catalonia. During the winter, the duke 
of Marlborough successfully laboured to prevail on the states 
of Holland to lay aside their cautious policy of not risking an 
engagement ; and at the opening of the next campaign, he 
began to act with greater boldness than he had hitherto 
^ya^ displayed. 13. On the 23d of May, was fought the 
' decisive battle of Ramilies, in which the French lost 
twenty thousand men, and which was followed by the reduc- 
tion of Spanish Flanders. In Spain also, Philip had been 
compelled to raise the siege of Barcelona, and subsequently 
to yield up the capital to his rival. 

14. But their successes in Italy were some consolation to 
the French for their defeats every where else. The duke de 
Vendome had completely defeated the imperialists, and the 
French possessed so decided a superiority, that they ventured 
to lay siege to Turin. Unfortunately for them, Vendome was 
recalled to take the command of the army in Flanders, and 
the conduct of the siege was intrusted nominally to the duke 
of Orleans, but in reality to the duke de Feuillade, a court 
favourite, totally destitute of all military experience. Prince 
Eugene set out to raise the siege, and after a brilliant march, 
in which his judicious movements were powerfully contrasted 
with the folly of his enemies, effected a junction with the duke 
of Savoy. The duke of Orleans then proposed that the siege 
should be broken up, and that they should march to meet the 
enemy; but when the council were about to adopt this judi- 
cious measure, by which alone they could have any chance 
of success, Marsin produced a letter from the court ordering 
the army to remain in its entrenchments. On the 7th of Sep- 
^tember, prince Eugene attacked the French lines, and in 
about two hours was every where successful ; the camp with 
all its equipage and munitions of war was taken ; the enemy 
fled in every direction, and the fugitives were severely harassed 
by the Piedmontese peasantry, who attacked them in their 
retreat and cut them off in the defiles of the mountains. 15. 
By this single defeat France lost the fruits of all her former 
campaigns, and was not only deprived of all her conquests in 
Italy, but saw her southern frontier exposed to the enemy. 



LOUTS XIV. 317 

16. The battle of Almanza revived a little the hopes 
of France ; the duke of Berwick, the natural son of ,'!L'i^ 
James IL, gained a complete victory over the allied 
forces commanded by lord Galway, after which the cause of 
PhiHp seemed gradually to gain ground ; but on the other 
hand, the aUies still retained their superiority in Flan- 
ders. 17. The dukes de Vendome and Burgundy -i^/^q 
were defeated by Marlborough and prince Eugene at 
Oudenarde, after which the allies besieged and took Lille, 
whose possession seemed to open to them the road to Paris. 
The pope soon after deserted the French, whom he had 
hitherto supported, and acknowledged Charles's title to the 
throne of Spain. To so many losses the scourge of nature 
seemed to be added ; prince after prince of the royal family 
fell victims to disease, so that Louis had reason to dread that 
he should be left without a successor ; and to complete the 
whole, France was threatened with all the horrors of a severe 
famine. 

18. Under these circumstances, Louis solicited 
peace; conferences were opened at Gertruydenberg, -,>^iA 
but the allies, intoxicated with success, insisted on con- 
ditions so very extravagant, that the negociations were broken 
off. They had the cruelty to require that Louis should send 
an army to drive his grandson from the throne of Spain ; the 
aged monarch replied to the insulting proposal with becoming 
spirit : " If I must continue the war," he said, " I should 
rather fight against my enemies than my children," The 
consequences of this ineffectual attempt were beneficial to 
Louis ; his people, who had justly murmured against the 
calamities by which they were oppressed, now resolved to 
defend their monarch to the utmost, as he had done every 
thing consistent with national honour to afford them relief. 

19. Two unexpected events changed the entire face 
of European politics. The emperor of Germany died, ,-,,' 
and was succeeded by Charles, the nominal king of 
Spain ; this of course affected the original principles of the 
war, for the union of Spain and the empire would have been 
as fatal to the balance of power as the joining of France and 
Spain. In England, the Whigs, who had so long supported 
the duke of Marlborough, were no longer in office, and their 
Tory successors, Harley and Bolingbroke, were anxious to ob- 
tain a peace on any terms. 20. In his last campaign, the 
duke exhibited all the wisdom and skill by which he had been 
so often distinguished ; he forced the lines which Villars had 
27* 



318 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

declared impregnable, and captured Bouchain in the presence 
of the enemy's army, thus removing the principal obstacles 
between him and Paris. But at the end of the campaign, he 
was stripped of all his employments, and the command of the 
Enghsh forces was given to the duke of Ormond, with secret 
directions to do nothing. 

21. The conferences for the celebrated treaty of 
-j^.fj Utrecht began in January, but proceeded at first very 
* slowly ; the Dutch and imperial ambassadors threw 
every obstacle in the way of accommodation, and the deaths 
of the dauphin, his wife and son, by opening to Phihp the 
probable succession to the throne of France, created fresh dif- 
ficulties. At length Philip renounced his future claims in 
favour of his younger brother the duke of Berry ; as the Eng- 
lish and French were earnest in their desire of peace, they 
soon agreed on preliminaries, but the rest of the alUes refused 
to concur. Deprived of the support of the English, the Dutch 
and imperialists still ventured on another campaign, but prince 
Eugene being totally defeated at Landrecy, and several of the 
towns captured by Marlborough having been retaken, Holland 
became alarmed, and concluded a treaty. The emperor held 
out a year longer, and lost several advantages by his obstinacy, 
until finding himself unable to continue the war alone, he was 
obliged to conclude a separate peace at Rastadt. The Catalans 
were the last who kept alive the expiring flames of the war; 
they refused to acknowledge Philip as their sovereign, and 
though deserted by every body, maintained a furious resist- 
ance. At length Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, was 
taken after a vigorous siege, the citizens deprived of their pri- 
vileges, and some of their leaders capitally punished. 

22. The treaty of Utrecht put an end to the long wars 
which the ambition of Louis XIV. had excited in Europe, 
and placed all the powers nearly on the same footing that they 
had been at the commencement. The Enghsh ministers who 
concluded it were subsequently impeached, and narrowly 
escaped with their lives ; it would be now useless to revive 
the discussion of a question by which England was once fear- 
fully agitated, but it may be remarked, that by that treaty 
England secured all the objects for which the war had been 
originally undertaken, though the motives and measures of 
Harley and BoHngbroke were any thing but honourable and 
patriotic. 

23. Though Louis had the satisfaction of seeing a war 
which threatened the entire ruin of France thus happily con- 



LOUIS XIV. 319 

eluded, yet his situation at its close was the most miserabla 
conceivable, all the national resources were exhausted, the 
manufactures were destroyed, and commerce was totally ex- 
tinct. The royal family had, as was already mentioned, been 
visited by an unusual mortality, and the next heir to the crown 
was the king's great-grandson, a weak and sickly infant. 24. 
Theological disputes distracted the court and the nation. A 
divine, named Gluesnel, had published a book, entitled "Re- 
flections upon the Old Testament." A hundred and one pro- 
positions extracted from this book by a bigoted fool, Le Tel- 
lier, the king's confessor, were condemned by the celebrated 
bull Unigenitus, issued by pope Clement XI. The disputes 
about the registration of this bull filled the whole kingdom, 
while its aged monarch, distracted by useless remorse, was fast 
drawing to the close of his miserable existence. 

25. At length, in the seventy-second year of his 
reign, he became sensible of the near approach of his i~\k 
dissolution : he sent for his successor, and gave him 
much good advice, which kings are always more ready to be- 
stow in the hour of death than to practise in their course of 
life. He made arrangements for the future regency by his 
will, and ordered that his natural children, whom he had le- 
gitimated, should be ranked among the blood royal of France, 
but these regulations were violated immediately after his de- 
cease. Having thus provided for all his worldly concerns, he 
received the last offices of the catholic church, and met the 
stroke of death with becoming resignation. 

26. The calamities experienced by the French in the latter 
part of this reign had so complately effaced the glories of its 
commencement, that the news of Louis's death was received 
with joy. Impartial posterity has, however, stripped his cha- 
racter of the flatteries which loaded it during his life, and the 
defamation heaped on it after his death. He was a monarch 
of a great mind and good intentions, but bad education spoiled 
the one, and artful courtiers depraved the other. He was a 
great encourager of literature and the arts, and his reign is de- 
servedly esteemed the Augustan age of France. 

" The eighteenth century," we read in the Cahiers de His- 
toire, " commences with the regency. Louis XIV. is dead, 
and instantly a reaction takes place against all that had been 
obtained in his reign ; the parliament assembles, and unani- 
mously resolve to set aside the will of the great king, while 
the populace insult his obsequies. The duke of Orleans is 
declared regent instead of the duke of Maine. 

•' Great was the difference between these two princes 



320 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

The latter was the pupil of De Maintenon, the assiduous 
courtier of the last years of the reign of Louis XIV., and 
consequently the friend of his old friends, Villeroy, D'Har- 
court, D'Uxelles, and De Villars. The regent was only 
connected with the past, by recollected affronts and perse- 
cutions. He. at length breathes ! he is free ! he is master! 
The transition from hypocritical virtue to unblushing vice 
was sudden and abrupt : high and low at once threw off the 
mask, and passed immediately from fasting to dissolute 
orgies. 

" The relief of the Jansenists, the change of object as well 
as of the form of administration, the proceedings against the 
farmers-general of taxes, the rupture of the alliance with 
Spain, all of these steps were in opposition to the policy of 
France in the seventeenth century. 

" Apart from the private life of the regent, and it is not 
for the governed to inquire into all the concerns of those 
who govern, the duke of Orleans holds an honourable place 
in history ; and when Louis XV. became a man and a king, 
remembering his feeble and afflicted infancy, his gratitude 
ought to have been great to the tutor, to the uncle, who, 
almost in despite of nature, had given him a throne and life. 
Dubois, notwithstanding his trifling, to say no more, was 
not unworthy of his strange elevation." 




LOUIS XV. 



321 




Louis XV. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

LOUIS XV. 

To swell some future tyrant's pride, 
Good Fleury pours the golden tide 

On Gallia's smiling shores ; 
Once more her fields shall thirst in vain 
For wholesome streams of honest gain, 

While rapine wastes her stores. 

Earl Nttgent. 

1. The new king of France was but five years old 
at the time of his accession, and the arrangement of -,ji^ 
the regency, as usual, gave rise to much political in- 
trigue. At length the parliament gave undivided power to 
Philip, duke of Orleans, nephew to the late king, a man of 
great abilities, but of greater depravity, whose private life was 
stained with the practice of every species of debauchery. He 
had been unjustly suspected of having poisoned the three 
dauphins whose successive deaths have already been men- 

V 



322 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

tioned, and it is probable, had Louis XIV. died a few 
years earlier, that the regency would never have been con- 
ferred on the duke of Orleans ; but the natural children of 
Louis were still more unpopular with the French ; and hatred 
of them made the nation more ready to submit to their rival. 
3. The first opposition made to the regent was by cardinal 
Alberoni, who then wielded the destinies of Spain. Alberoni 
was one of the greatest statesmen of the age, but he had one 
great fault which rendered all his talents useless ; he was too 
extravagant in his designs, and aimed at effecting great 
changes without calculating the means necessary for their 
execution. To place the Pretender on the throne of England, 
to wrest from the emperor what he had obtained in Italy by 
the treaty of Utrecht, to make the king of Spain regent of 
France, and acknowledged heir to the throne, were the daring 
enterprises contemplated by Alberoni. 3. His schemes were 
detected, and the parties whom he had endangered combined 
for their mutual protection. France, England, and Holland 
united to enforce the observance of the treaty of Utrecht ; they 
were soon after joined by the emperor, and the system of 
Alberoni was overturned by the quadruple alliance. Conspi- 
racies were vainly attempted both in France and England. 
The Spanish ambassador, the duchess of Maine, the cardinal 
de Polignac, and several others, joined in forming a scheme 
for carrying off the regent ; but the papers were artfully 
stolen from a young Spanish abbe who was secretary to the 
embassy, and thus the whole plot was discovered. The am- 
bassador and his secretary were seized, several of the principal 
accomplices sent to the Bastille, and war declared against 
Spain. Thus France armed against the grandson of Louis 
XIV., whom she had elevated to a throne at the expense of 
her own ruin. 

4. Happily the war was not of long continuance. 
■ijiQ The Spanish fleet was defeated by admiral Byng, and 

* twenty-three of their ships taken ; their forces in Sicily 
were defeated the following year by the imperialists, and the 
armament designed for the invasion of England dispersed by 
a storm. Spain itself was destined to feel the horrors of war ; 
the English carried destruction into the port of Vigo, and the 
French having invaded the country, took several towns, de- 
stroyed some magazines, and burned sixteen ships of war 

which had been newly constructed. Philip, naturally 
1720 ^ weak monarch, was terrified at such a series of cala- 

* mities ; he acceded to the quadruple alliance, and 



LOUIS XV. 323 

banished Alberoni, whose removal was made an indispensable 
condition of peace. 

5. The wars of Louis XIV. had left the finances of France 
in a deplorable condition, and an attempt made to remedy the 
disorder only completed their ruin. An exiled Scotchman, 
named Law, conceived the scheme of paying off the enormous 
debt by an issue of paper money. The duke of Orleans, fond 
of novelty, adopted the plan, and a commercial company was 
formed, the profits of whose exclusive trade with Louisiana 
were to liquidate all the debts by which France was oppressed. 
The success of the Mississippi scheme, as it was called at first, 
equalled Law's expectations. The prices of shares in the 
company rapidly rose to an extravagant height, a blind in- 
satiable avarice induced people to strip themselves of their 
money to purchase notes, and to such a pitch was this carried, 
that the notes issued amounted to more than eighty times the 
current coin. The effect of such excessive issue was of course 
the depreciation of the notes ; the bank became unable to 
meet the demands made upon it, and its entire credit vanished 
in an instant ; the notes became no better than waste paper, 
and numberless families were reduced to indigence. The 
regent for some time defended Law from the popular indigna- 
tion, but was eventually forced to yield to the voice of the na- 
tion. Law fled from France, scarcely carrying with him a 
sufficiency to support existence. 

6. The fortune of the cardinal Dubois was as extravagant, 
but more permanent, than that of Law. He was the son of 
an apothecary, and had come to Paris at a very early age. 
By a series of fortunate circumstances, he became private 
tutor to the future regent, and was the detestable cause of the 
debauchery by which that prince was dishonoured. By flat- 
tering the vanity and pandering to the passions of his former 
pupil, he obtained such an ascendancy over him, that he was 
appointed prime minister of France, and having taken holy 
orders, was raised to the dignity of cardinal. After his death, 
the duke of Orleans assumed the title of prime minister, be- 
cause the king was then of age. 7. But his riotous 
excesses hastened his dissolution ; he died a victim to tjcy-i 
intemperance, and was succeeded in the ministry by 

the duke de Bourbon-Conde. The character of the regent 

has been emphatically given in the following brief sentence 

by a modern writer — " He was a good ruler and a bad man." 

8. The only thing remarkable in the administration of 

• Bourbon-Conde was his having negociated a marriage between 



324 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the young monarch and Maria Seczinska, daughter of Stanis- 
laus, the ex-king of Poland. 9. He was succeeded by Car- 
dinal Fleury, an old man of seventy-three, who had been 
introduced at court as preceptor to the king, and seldom has 
any country been blessed with a better minister. He was 
attentive to economy, studious of peace, amiable and gentle in 
his manners, just such a minister as suited a nation that 
required relief rather than splendour. 10. The repose 
ry'il ^^^^^ Europe had enjoj^ed since the treaty of Utrecht 
' furnishes few materials for history, but its tranquillity 
was at length disturbed from a quarter in which it was least 
expected. On the death of Augustus, king of Poland, his old 
rival Stanislaus was elected to the vacant throne ; the emperor 
of Germany, in conjunction with Russia, caused this election 
to be set aside, and gave the crown to the son of the late 
monarch. Louis XV. felt himself bound in honour to espouse 
the cause of his father-in-law ; but the succours given to Sta- 
nislaus amounted only to fifteen hundred men, and he was a 
second time expelled from the kingdom of Poland, which was 
every day becoming more and more a dependency of Russia. 
11. Though France did not act with much vigour in Poland, 
she compensated for her inactivity there by the vigour of her 
attacks on the Emperor. In two brilliant campaigns the 
Austrians were completely humbled in Italy ; the imperialists, 
though commanded by prince Eugene, were defeated on the 
Rhine ; and a Spanish army under Don Carlos conquered the 
entire kingdom of Naples. Defeated on a>ll quarters, the Em- 
peror applied to the maritime powers, soliciting their media- 
tion, but the pacific disposition of cardinal Fleury rendered 
their intervention unnecessary. 12. By the treaty of peace, 
Spain acquired the kingdom of Naples for Don Carlos ; 
France obtained the provinces of Lorraine and Bar for Stanis- 
laus, which, after his death, were to be for ever united with 
the French dominions ; and the duke of Lorraine was no- 
minated successor to the grand duke of Tuscany, the last of 
the illustrious family of the Medicis. This was the second 
time that John Gaston, duke of Tuscany, had seen the in- 
heritance to his dominions arranged by foreign powers ; he 
made the insult the subject of a jest, humorously asking, "if 
they would not supply him with a third heir, and what child 
France and the empire would get for him?" 

13, The reason why the Emperor so readily consented to 
the strengthening of France by the valuable acquisition of 
Lorraine, was his anxiety to obtain the guarantee of that 



LOUIS XV. 325 

power to the celebrated pragmatic sanction, an instrument to 
prevent the partition of the Austrian dominions in case of the 
failure of heirs male, and to secure the peaceable accession of 
his daughter Maria Theresa, who was married to Francis of 
Lorraine, the reigning duke of Tuscany. Almost all the 
powers of Europe had signed the treaty to this effect, but 
prince Eugene very wisely remarked, that " an army of one 
hundred men would guarantee it better than one hundred 
thousand treaties." 14. In fact, the Emperor was 
scarcely laid in his grave when a host of competitors ^-l^n 
appeared to have claims for the succession. The king 
of Poland, the elector of Bavaria, and the kings of Spain and 
Sardinia, began to urge their pretensions, but did not imme- 
diately attempt to enforce them by arms. 15. The signal of 
universal war was given by a power which had not hitherto 
taken any leading part in the affairs of Europe, but which the 
abilities of its monarch was destined to place in the first rank 
of the continental nations. Frederic III., king of Prussia, was 
in the twenty-eighth year of his age, and possessed consider- 
able talents, which had been sharpened in the school of adver- 
sity. His father had treated him with the most unjustifiable 
severity, and would probably have taken his life had not the 
Emperor interfered ; but while detained in prison, he had 
recourse to the consolations of literature, and improved his 
mind while he lightened his captivity. But though he had 
no great reason to be pleased with the manner in which his 
father had treated him, he had every cause to be pleased with 
the conduct which made his kingdom a valuable inheritance ; 
Frederic II. left his son a rich treasury, and a well-disciplined 
army, valuable acquisitions to a young and ambitious monarch. 
16. Two months after the Emperor's death, Frederic appeared 
in Upper Silesia at the head of thirty thousand men, and re- 
vived some forgotten claims of his family to that province. 
His troops were better than his cause ; Silesia was conquered 
with little trouble, and Frederic, flushed with success, sent to 
Maria Theresa, offering to secure her in the rest of her do- 
minions, provided that she would concede to him the quiet 
possession of his recent conquest. The Empress indignantly 
rejected the offer, and though surrounded by enemies, spi- 
ritedly determined not to purchase a peace by the sacrifice of 
her rights. 

17. Cardinal Fleury in vain endeavoured to prevent ^ ^ 
France from being involved in this war, but the count, ly^^V 
afterwards duke de Belleisle, had sufficient influence 
28 



326 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

to procure the adoption of a contrary resolution. They thought 
that the favourable moment had arrived for executing the 
favourite project of Richelieu, the humiliation of the house of 
Austria, and acting on this design they induced the king to 
violate the pragmatic sanction which had lately been con- 
firmed with so much solemnity. They determined to procure 
the imperial crown for the elector of Bavaria; a numerous 
army was raised, and that prince was by letters-patent created 
lieutenant-general of Louis XV. 18. The success of the 
French and Bavarians was at first complete ; they marched into 
Austria, captured Lentz, threatened Vienna with a siege, and 
then penetrating into Bohemia, took Prague by escalade. 
Maria Theresa was forced to become a fugitive, but her very 
misfortunes made her formidable; she appeared before the 
states of Hungary bearing her infant son in her arms. The 
speech which she made in Latin to the assembly, drew tears 
from all her audience ; the spirit of that chivalrous nation was 
roused, and they all exclaimed with one accord, Moriamur 
pro rege nostra Maria Theresa ; " Let us die for our king* 
Maria Theresa." The English people were enthusiastic in 
their admiration of the heroine. The duchess of Marlborough 
assembled the principal ladies of London, who engaged to 
raise for her 100,000/. sterling, and the duchess herself sub- 
scribed 40,000/. ; but the queen of Hungary had the magna- 
nimity to refuse the offer, declaring that she would receive no 
assistance except from the nation assembled in Parliament. 

19. But the faults of her enemies still more powerfully as- 
sisted the cause of the empress ; the marechals Belleisle and 
Broglio were jealous of each other, the elector of Bavaria was 
totally destitute of military talents, and the cavalry especially 
was in a miserable state of inefficiency. The light troops of 
the Austrians, Pandours, Croats and Hussars, harassed the 
scattered troops of the French and Bavarians ; without a battle 
being fought they were stripped of all their conquests, and the 
new emperor being deprived even of his hereditary dominions, 
was obliged to become the pensioner of France. The king 
of Prussia made a treaty for himself, by which he secured the 
possession of Silesia ; and the marechal de Belleisle had only 
the honour of saving 13,000 men, the wreck of his great and 
victorious army, by a brilliant retreat from the heart of Ger- 
many to the banks of the Rhine. 

• The Hungarians used this form of speech in reference to their 
old constitution, which excluded females from the throne. 



LOUIS XV. 327 

20. The death of cardinal Fleury changed the mea- 
sures of the French government ; instead of acting any ^Z^A 
longer as auxiliaries, they became principals in the 
war, and were imitated by the finglish, whom the Hanoverian 
possessions of George II. had unfortunately involved in con- 
tinental politics. 21. They tried their strength at the battle 
of Dettingen, where George II. and his son, the duke of 
Cumberland, were present in person. The English were 
commanded by the earl of Stair, a pupil of the famous Marl- 
borough; the marechal de Noailles, a cautious and a clever 
general, was at the head of the French. By the excellent 
arrangements of the marechal, the English were brought into 
a very difficult position, where they could neither advance 
nor retreat without being exposed to be attacked at serious 
disadvantage, their supplies were cut off, and the French were 
on the point of obtaining a victory almost without a battle, 
when the impetuosity of one of their generals disconcerted all 
their arrangements. He advanced to assail a British post 
through a dangerous defile ; while his troops were entangled 
there, the earl of Stair attacked them fiercely, a general en- 
gagement ensued, and the French, being unable to retrieve 
their error, were defeated. No advantage, however, was de- 
rived from this victory, the English having strangely neglected 
to pursue their success. 

22. Flanders next became the theatre of war, and Louis 
XV. took the field in person. He captured several towns, 
but was stopped in the midst of his career by receiving the 
disaofreeable news that prince Charles of Lorraine had crossed 
the Rhine, and reduced the greater part of Alsace. Louis 
hastened to meet the Austrian forces, but before his arrival, 
they had been recalled to resist the progress of the king of 
Prussia, who, alarmed at the increasing power of Austria, had 
again taken up arms. While the war was carried on with 
doubtful success, the elector of Bavaria, whose mad ambition 
had caused it, died of a broken heart ; and his son entered 
into a treaty with the empress. 23. It might have been rea- 
sonably expected that this event would have induced all 
parties to seek for peace, but the French and English, ani- 
mated by national hatred, prevented the flames from being 
extinguished. In Flanders, marechal Saxe, natural son of the 
king of Poland, was placed at the head of the French forces, 
and the English had no general at all comparable to 
him in ability. The decisive battle of Fontenoy ef- ^^A^ 
faced the memory of Marlborough's triumphs; the 



328 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

allies were totally defeated, and were not able in that or the two 
following campaigns to recover sufficient strength, so as to 
check the progress of the victorious general. 24. At sea the 

English were more successful ; two victories were 

1747 S^^"^'^ by admirals Anson and Hawke in the same 

■ year, which reduced the navy of France to a single 

ship. The allies, after many reverses, were also eventually 

victorious in Italy, from which they expelled the French and 

the Spaniards. 

25. The invasion of England by the young Pretender, who 
had made the government at one time tremble for its existence, 
was the principal cause of the disinclination to peace evinced 
by the British cabinet ; but the means of revenge were not at 
their command ; and when Marechal Saxe, by the capture of 

Maeslricht, had opened the frontiers of Holland, it be- 
74S ^^^^^ necessary to think seriously about a peace. 26. 

The preliminaries were settled at Aix la Chapelle the 
30th of April, and the definitive treaty was signed October 
18th. This treaty was a complete sarcasm on the folly of 
those who make either war or peace. The contest was com- 
menced with the design of dismembering the Austrian do- 
minions, and overturning the pragmatic sanction ; with the 
single exception of Silesia, Austria lost nothing, and the new 
arrangement of the succession was solemnly confirmed. 27. 
But the diplomatists who arranged the differences between 
England and France exhibited a still more ludicrous spectacle ; 
they cautiously omitted any mention of the many disputed 
points between the two countries, and signed a treaty of peace 
replete with the elements of future war. 

The peace of Aix-Ia-Chapelle restored to France her 
colonies, secured Silesia to Prussia, and' Parma and Placen- 
tia to the Bourbons in Spain. France, on this occasion, 
affected great magnanimity. Her ambassador declared that 
he had nothing to demand ; he came to make peace not for 
a merchant, but for a king. Besides giving up his conquests, 
Louis consented to the port of Dunkirk being rendered useless. 
Maria Theresa recovered Austrian Flanders ; and England, 
giving up Louisburg, in North America, retained Acadia. 
France and her great rival gained little for the blood and 
treasure she had expended ; but England had to boast of 
having saved Austria, and firmly established the throne of 
Maria Theresa, and thus preserved the balance of power 
of Europe. 

France had bitterly felt her weakness ; but she could not 



LOUIS XV. 329 

immediately profit by the lesson she had received. The 
government of mistresses had succeeded to that of aged 
priests. Mademoiselle Poisson, Marchioness de Pompa- 
dour, reigned twenty years. By birth the daughter of a 
citizen, she had some feelings of patriotism. Her creature, 
the comptroller Machaut, wished to tax the clergy. D'Ar- 
genson organized the administration of the war department 
with all the talents and* severity of Louvois. In the midst 
of the disputes between the parliament and the clergy, phi- 
losophy gained ground; even at court it had partisans. 
Although the king was a decided enemy to every new idea, 
he had his own printing-office, and printed himself the eco- 
nomical theory of his physician, Quesnay, who proposed a 
single tax to be imposed upon landed property, to which the 
nobility and clergy, who were the principal landholders, 
must have contributed. AH these projects ended in mere 
discussions ; the old corporations resisted ; royalty, flattered 
by the philosophers, who wished to arm and turn its power 
against the clergy, experienced a vague alarm at perceiving 
their progress. Voltaire was preparing a universal anti- 
christian history (Essay on Manners, 1756.) A mighty 
movement was about to commence. Its approach was per- 
ceived by all classes. The king himself confessed it. "The 
monarchy grows very old," said he, "but it will last my 
time." We may remark, that the selfishness indicated by 
this reflection was abundantly participated in by those who 
then surrounded the throne. Calculating that the established 
system would endure long enough for them, they cared not 
what convulsions and horrors might follow. 




Marechal Saxe. 



330 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Frederic the Great. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



LOUIS XV. CONTINUED. 



Yet reason frowns on war's unequal game, 
Where wasted nations raise a single name; 
And mortgag'd states their grandsires' wreaths regret, 
From age to age in everlasting debt. 

Johnson. 

^ ^ 1. The wise negociators at Aix la Chapelle had in- 
^j^Q serted in the treaty the following extraordinary clause; 
' " all other matters shall be placed on the same fooling 
that they were or ought to have been, before the commence- 
ment of the war." The Engh'sh and French had never 
accurately marked the limits of their colonies in Asia and 
America, and when they came to determine what they ought 
to have been, acts of violence, mutual recriminations and mani- 
festoes heralded a new war. The French complained that 
their British neighbours encroached on Canada ; their adver- 



LOUIS XV. 331 

saries retorted by similar complaints; both were mutually ex- 
asperated, until at length the British government, without 
issuing any formal declaration, caused the French fleet, bound 
to Canada, to be attacked, and Louis immediately took 
up arms. 2. Such was the beginning of the celebrated -i-}^--' 
seven years' war, a contest which produced events '"* ' 
almost incredible, in which France sunk from the summit of 
glory to the depths of humiliation, at the very moment when 
her ultimate triumph seemed to be most secure. The most 
extraordinary feature of all was the alliance between France 
and Austria, nations that had been at war for nearly two cen- 
turies, and the junction of England with Prussia, powers that 
had hitherto shown great jealousy of each other. This change 
of alliances is said to have been eifected by the marchioness 
de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV., who was gratified 
by the compliments of the crafty Maria Theresa, and enraged 
at the sarcasms which had been uttered against her by the 
king of Prussia. 

3. The commencement of the war was favourable to 
France ; the English received some severe checks in Canada; 
the island of Minorca, with the formidable fortress of Port 
Mahon, was wrested from them by the marechal Richelieu ; 
the duke of Cumberland was defeated in Germany, and 
obliged by a disgraceful convention at Closterseven, to capitulate 
with all his army, and yield up Hanover to the enemy. The 
king of Prussia, after having conquered Hanover and obtained 
a brilliant victory at Prague, was in his turn defeated by 
count Daun, and reduced to the brink of ruin. 4. But 
the battle of Rosbach, which Frederic gained over the ■•J- J 
united forces of the French and Ausirians, produced 
a change in affairs as great as it was unexpected. By the 
rapidity of movements which their superior discipline enabled 
the Prussians to execute with facility, the enemies' lines were 
thrown into irremediable confusion, and a decisive victory ob- 
tained almost without a battle. A second victory in the same 
year at Lissa restored him the possession of Silesia, and the 
English, notwithstanding the convention of Closterseven, drove 
the French from Hanover. A long series of battles followed 
in Germany, without producing any important consequences ; 
the French were forced to retreat at Crevelt, before the prince 
of Brunswick ; they were in their turn victorious at Bergen, 
but were overthrown at Warsbourg and at Minden. 
The hereditary prince of Brunswick does not appear ijeja 
to have followed up his victories with sufficient prompt- 



332 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

itude ; he gave the enemy time to recover themselves, and 
met with two severe checks, when at too late a period he at- 
tempted to extend his conquests. 

6. The king of Prussia, weakened by his very victories, 
seemed to be on the brink of destruction. Russia having 
united with Austria, the forces of the imperialists seemed on 
the point of overwhelming him, when he was saved by one 
of those unexpected events which baffle human calculation. 
Elizabeth, empress of Russia, died ; her successor, Peter III., 
was an enthusiastic admirer of Frederic, and not only broke 
off his alliance with Austria, but promised to assist the Prus- 
sian king with all his forces. This, which would probably 
have been the total ruin of the imperialists, was prevented by 
another revolution ; Peter was dethroned, and his wife Catha- 
rine, equally conspicuous for her talents and her crimes, as- 
sumed the Russian sceptre. Catharine resolved to preserve a 
rigid neutrality, and Frederic, who had maintained the same 
undaunted spirit during all these changes, was enabled to di- 
rect all his strength against the Austrians, over whom he ob- 
tained several advantages. 

7. But the principal calamities of the war fell on the fo- 
reign possessions of France. In India the English took Chan- 
denagore, Pondicherry, and all the principal settlements of 
their enemies in that quarter ; in Africa, the fort of Senegal 
and the island of Goree were captured ; and in America, Ca- 
nada was subdued by the heroic Wolfe, who died in the arms 

of victory ; and the greater part of the French West 
,J^,* India islands were surrendered to the British. 8. 
Alarmed at the rapid increase of the English naval 
power, Spain, which had hitherto been neutral, concluded a 
strict alliance with France by a treaty called the Family Com- 
pact; but it was only to participate in her calamities and dis- 
grace. The English rescued Portugal from menaced invasion, 
captured Cuba in the west, and the Philipine isles in the east, 
acquiring immense booty in both places, while their fleets 
everywhere ruled the sea, and totally destroyed the com- 
, Jpo merce of their enemies. 9. At length all parties be- 
gan to wish for peace ; it was concluded at Paris on 
terms the most favourable to England, as she retained the pos- 
session of almost all her colonial conquests. 

10. During this war France was distracted by disputes be- 
tween the clergy and the magistracy, which brought great dis- 
grace on religion, and facilitated at a subsequent period the 
spread of infidehty. The fanaticism excited by these disputes 



LOUIS XV. 333 

induced a young enthusiast named Damien to attempt the 
king's life ; he did not succeed, and the manner of his execu- 
tion will be for ever a stain on the character of the French. A 
committee of physicians was appointed to determine what were 
the most painful tortures that could be inflicted without imme- 
diate loss of hfe ! Damien, whose insanity deserved to be 
pitied rather than punished, was subjected to all the torments 
suggested by these scientific barbarians, and finally torn to 
pieces by wild horses. 11. The Jesuits, who were supposed 
to have been the principal instigators of this assassin, as they 
probably were of a similar attempt made on the life of the 
king of Portugal, experienced the vengeance of the court. 
Their order was abolished in France, Spain, and Portugal, 
though no injury was done to their persons. The edict 
for their suppression was subsequently confirmed by a 1^70 
bull of Pope Clement XIV. It would not be consistent 
with the design of this work to examine into the truth or false- 
hood of the charges brought against the Jesuits ; but it is cer- 
tain that their dissolution was more the result of political in- 
trigue and private animosity than public justice. 

12. The supineness of the British government per- 
mitted the French to make a valuable acquisition in lYfift 
the Mediterranean. The island of Corsica, unable to 
support the domination of the Genoese, made a vigorous 
effort to establish its independence. At the head of the insur- 
gents was Paschal Paoli, who united to a patriotic spirit supe- 
rior military talents. The republic of Genoa, unable to main- 
tain their power, ceded the island to France ; and the duke 
de Choiseul, who was then at the head of the French ministry, 
availed himself of this cession to seize on the island. Paoli 
made a gallant but unsuccessful resistance ; at length all hope 
was banished, and the gallant patriot, unwilling to witness the 
degradation of his country, became a voluntary exile, and re- 
tired to England, the common refuge, at that time, of the un- 
successful friends of the liberties of the human race. 

13. Soon after this, the duke de Choiseul was disgraced 
and banished, chiefly through the influence of madame du 
Barri, who had succeeded the marchioness de Pompadour, as 
mistress to the king. His dismissal was followed by a succes- 
sion of edicts depriving the parliaments of all the privileges 
they had previously enjoyed, and depriving the nation of the 
little remnant even of the forms of liberty which they had been 
hitherto permitted to enjoy. 



334 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

14. The remainder of this reign is the most disgraceful 
part of the French history ; the excessive vice and riotous 
debauchery of the court was infamous and disgusting. The 
monarch set the example of every species of hcenliousness, 
and the courtiers emulated his infamy. All parts of the ad- 
ministration were in the utmost disorder, the finances were 
exhausted, national credit gone, and public confidence ban- 
ished. The charitable donations given for the erection of hos- 
pitals were used to support luxury and extravagance. The 
money destined to redeem French captives from the Algerine 
pirates shared the same fate. All the offices of state, all ap- 
pointments, civil, military, and ecclesiastic, were exposed for 
sale, and were, consequent 1}', the prey of incompetent and 
rapacious characters. In a word, Louis XV. left to his suc- 
cessor a kingdom without money, without laws, and without 
morality. 

15. Louis died of the small-pox in the 64th year of 

-j,^-'^ his age, and the 59th of his reign. His character may 

' be easily learned from his history ; if any thing more 

be wanting, it is sufficient to add that his death was deemed a 

national blessing, and filled France with universal joy. 

16. The progress of science and literature during this reign 
was very great ; but it was more than compensated by the 
rapid strides with which infidelity advanced through the upper 
and middle ranks of life. The school of French philosophy 
may be considered to have been founded by Voltaire and 
Rousseau, men of unquestionable talents, but whom foolish 
vanity had induced to reject Christianity, as a system that 
fettered too much their mental independence. Their enmity 
to Christian truth had all the bitterness and all the virulence 
of personal hostility; it seemed almost a species of madness, 
for they exhibited a zeal and eagerness in destroying the prin- 
ciples of behef which were perfectly astonishing. The moral 
degradation of the upper ranks contributed to their success : 
men who lived in the practice of every vice were eager to 
persuade themselves that their fears of future punishment 
were groundless. We cannot say with some writers that in- 
fidelity necessarily produces imn)orality, but we may reverse 
the proposition, and safely assert that immorality predisposes 
men to infidelity. To this fatal source may be traced many 
of the evils by which France was assailed in the next reign ; 
if false philosophy did not generate the revolution, at least it 
aggravated its horrors and made its consequences fatal. 



LOUIS XV. 335 

17. Voltaire, whose name has obtained such a bad emi- 
nence, was a native of Paris. The celebrity of his early 
writings induced Frederic, king of Prussia, to invite him to 
his court. Frederic was himself an author and a philosopher, 
and the vanity of both soon changed their friendship into vio- 
lent enmity. Voltaire's account of the quarrel is amusing 
enough : he tells us, " It was reported that I had said the 
place of king's atheist was vacant, and no notice was taken of 
the imputation ; but it was whispered that I had called the 
king a maker of bad verses, and my banishment followed as a 
matter of course." He retired to Ferney, near Geneva, where 
he died at an advanced age. His writings are remarkable for 
their caustic satirical wit, and exquisite powers of ridicule, but 
it is melancholy to reflect that such talents were devoted to 
the worst of purposes. He was also an excellent dramatic 
poet, but his attempt at an epic poem is now generally ac- 
knowledged to be a failure. 

18. John James Rousseau was born at Geneva, of humble 
parents, and from his earliest years manifested a strong attach- 
ment to literature. His writings are remarkable for their en- 
ergetic eloquence, but unfortunately, also, for their pernicious 
tendency. He was, perhaps, the vainest man that ever ex- 
isted, and his self-conceit led him into so many absurdities, 
that we may almost describe him with one of his disciples as 
" an inspired idiot." Rousseau was for some time in England, 
where his eccentricities caused shame to his friends, but fur- 
nished every body else with infinite amusement. 

It has been remarked that there was a mournful similarity 
between the latter years of Louis XV. and those of the pre- 
ceding reign. Both raonarchs, unsuccessful in war, were 
constrained to submit to conditions of peace, which Europe 
deemed humiliating to France. Louis XIV. was held in the 
chains of Madame de Maintenon ; and his successor was 
the slave of a courtesan, who was only less hypocritical be- 
cause she was more shameless. They were seen to revel 
in heardess splendour, while the nation was almost reduced 
by misery to despair. Both kings saw, in some, degree, 
the course of nature inverted ; and their children perished 
in the flower of their youth. The son of Louis XV. had 
inherited much of the piety of his mother ; and when the 
dauphin and dauphiness were called away by death, the 
regret manifested was as universal as it was rational, that the 
young and the virtuous should be withdrawn, while the aged 



336 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

and the depraved remained to affront the power that spared 
them ; and as the disgusted multitude was prepared to re- 
ceive the most unfavourable impressions of those who were 
so notoriously degraded by their vices, it was even believed 
that the young prince and princess had been purposely re- 
moved, through the vile arts of those whose impurity was 
rendered more odious from the contrast presented by an 
opposite course of life. This horrible suspicion was not 
removed by the death of the queen, who soon followed her 
son to the grave. 

Nor was even religious persecution wanting to render the 
parallel complete. The fickle Louis, accordingly as he was 
moved by his minister or his mistress, was ready to assail 
the Jansenists or the Jesuits ; and sinning against all deco- 
rum himself, he could still be deluded into a belief that it 
was for him to vindicate the dignity of religion. Some 
monstrous scenes were witnessed, prompted by bigotry. An 
unfortunate protestant, named Galas, had a son, who, being 
insane, committed suicide. It was asserted by the catholics 
that the youth meditated joining their church, and that to 
prevent that his own father had murdered him. This almost 
incredible charge was believed by the infuriated populace, 
and listened to with grave attention by the magistrates. In 
vain did the accused offer the best possible proof that he 
had never shared the intolerant spirit of those who pursued 
him ; but that he had made ample allowance to one of his 
sons, who had embraced the Catholic faith. Presumptive 
proofs of innocence were disregarded ; while evidence was 
given to every story that malice could invent, or folly utter 
against him. Eventually, he was condemned by the parlia- 
ment of Toulouse to perish on the rack, and his goods were 
confiscated. To the honour of Voltaire let it be mentioned, 
that when the remnant of this ill-fated family took refuge in 
Geneva, where he had fixed his abode, he took up their 
cause with generous indignation, and pursued, with equal 
activity, courage, and address, the authors of their wrongs; 
nor desisted till he had rescued the memory of the victim 
from obloquy, whom he could not recal from the grave, 
brought shame on the fiend-like criminals who had caused 
his ruin, and driven the guilty magistrate who had been most 
forward in promoting the atrocious sentence, to a state of 
absolute insanity. 



LOUIS XVI. 



337 




Louia XVI. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

LOUIS XVL 

And since the rabble now is ours, 
Keep the fools hot, preach dangers in their ears ; 
Spread false reports o' th' senate ; working up 
Their madness to a fury quick and desp'rate j 
Till they run headlong into civil discords, 
And do our business with their own destruction. 



Otwat. 



1. Few monarchs ever ascended a throne under 
more favourable auspices than Louis XVL He was i^U-V 
known to have disliked the vicious profligacy of his 
grandfather's court ; though scarcely twenty he had shown 
some capacity for conducting the business of the state ; anec- 
dotes of his generous and kindly disposition were circulated 
through Paris ; finally, his marriage with Marie Antoinette 
seemed to secure external tranquillity, by uniting France with 
29 W 



338 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the empire. The first measures of the new reign were judi- 
cious and popular ; the administration of finance was entrusted 
to Turgot, a minister equally remarkable for his virtues and 
abilities ; other departments of the state were entrusted to 
Maurepas and Malesherbes, men who were animated by the 
soundest loyalty and purest patriotism. 2. But the nobility of 
France, and especially that part of it immediately connected 
with the court, had been too much demoralized during the late 
reign to be pleased with virtuous measures that threatened to 
destroy corruption, and deprive them of the pensions which 
they lavished .in guilty indulgence. A resolution was taken 
to destroy Turgot, and an opportunity for effecting it was soon 
presented. 3. Louis XVI. had recalled the parliament which 
his grandfather had sent into exile, in spite of the remonstrances 
of Turgot, who saw that an institution combining judicial and 
legislative powers was likely to prove injurious ; the parlia- 
ments retained their indignation against the minister, and when 
he presented to them an edict for the abolition of corvees, com- 
pulsory labours that the tenants were obliged to perform for 
their landlords, they refused to enrol it, and were supported 
in their resistance by the whole body of the nobihty. This 
ill-judged effort to preserve the most disgraceful and oppressive 
p3rt of the feudal system was one principal reason of the in- 
veterate hatred to the aristocracy subsequently shown by the 

French people. The in- 
trigues of interested courtiers 
succeeded in procuring the 
dismissal of Turgot ; his 
place was supplied by Neck- 
er, a Swiss banker, more 
popular than Turgot, but far 
inferior to him in ability. 
Necker was too much ad- 
dicted to theory, and seemed 
totally devoid of practical 
wisdom ; his speculations on 
finance were ingenious and 
beautiful, but his measures were injurious. 

4. Great Britain, though everywhere successful at the end 
of the seven years' war, was greatly exhausted by the con- 
test ; the ordinary revenue was found insuflScient to pay the 
interest of the debt and the ordinary expenses of government, 
some new resources were required, and in an evil hour it was 
resolved to levy a tax on the British colonies in North America : 




LOUIS XVI. 339 

for, under the pretext that the war had been undertaken for 
the protection of their frontier, the ministry alleged that they 
should bear a proportionate share in liquidating its expenses. 
The Americans denied the right of the British parliament to 
levy taxes on them, as they sent no representatives thither ; a 
brief war with the pen was followed by an appeal to the sword ; 
the exasperation of both parties hourly augmented, until at 
length the congress of deputies from the several colonies, on 
the 4th of July 1776, formally threw off their allegiance to 
the British crown, and proclaimed themselves independent, 
under the title of the United States of America. 

5. The French court and people still smarted under the re- 
collection of the defeats and disgraces they had endured in the 
former war ; every man in his senses was aware that they 
would seize the first opportunity of declaring in favour of the 
Americans ; but the court of St, James's, shutting their eyes 
to the dangers by which it was threatened, took every method 
of widening the breach between Britain and its former sub- 
jects, nor was the delusion of the English ministry dispelled 
until the evil was irreparable. An alliance was entered 
into at Paris between France and the United States, to -tjja 
which Spain and Holland soon after acceded. 6. As 
this war belongs rather to the history of England than that of 
France, we shall only give a brief summary of the principal 
events. At sea, several indecisive actions were fought ; twenty 
naval engagements at least took place between the belligerent 
powers, but victory remained undetermined until the I2th of 
April 1782, when Admiral Rodney totally defeated Count de 
Grasse in the West Indies, aiKi re-established the superiority 
of the British flag. In the East Indies the English were 
everywhere successful, and almost annihilated the power of 
their enemies in that quarter, but on the other hand the French 
subdued several of the West Indian islands, and the Spaniards 
conquered Florida. The Dutch suffered most severely, having 
been deprived of almost all their colonies by the British. In 
Europe, the French and Spaniards subdued Minorca, but were 
defeated at the siege of Gibraltar, by the gallant general El- 
liot. 7. In North America, the war was carried on for some 
time with various success, until at length the whole British 
army, commanded by the marquis Cornwallis, was forced to 
surrender almost at discretion to the united forces of the French 
and Americatis, commanded by the marquis de la Fayette and 
general Washington. When the news of this event reached 
England, every person in the country saw that the further 



340 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

prosecution of the war was hopeless. A new ministry ac- 
knowledged the independence of the United States, 
I Joo ^i^d entered into negociations with France. 8. A peace 
was concluded under the auspices of Joseph [I., em- 
peror of Germany, and the empress of Russia, who acted as 
mediators ; and England obtained more favourable terms than 
could reasonably have been expected after the number of re- 
verses she had experienced. 

9. To support the expenses of this war, Necker had re- 
course to loans, a fatal system, which only deferred the evil to 
return with accumulated violence at a future period ; after his 
dismissal, Fleury, Ormesson, and Calonne pursued the same 
improvident career, until at length the clamours of the people, 
oppressed by taxation, and the fears of the state-creditors that 
a national bankruptcy would reduce them to poverty, brought 
the country into the most deplorable condition. At the same 
time, the army who had fought for the freedom of America 
brought home with them some of that attachment to hberty 
which they had imbibed from their allies ; and the aspirations 
for a free constitution, so new to the French, were strengthened 
when they looked across the channel, and saw England, not- 
withstanding all her reverses, enjoying comparative happiness 
and tranquillity. 10. Calonne saw that unless all parties in 
the state combined to support their relative shares of the pubhc 
burdens, ruin was inevitable ; he therefore resolved to propose 
that the nobihty and clergy should resign, or at least suspend, 
those privileges by which they were exempted from 
, Jq^ taxation. For this purpose he convened an assembly 
* of the notables at Versailles, and though they were the 
persons whose interests were most affected, Calonne would 
probably have secured the adoption of his plan, but for the in- 
trigues of De Brienne, who aspired to the post of prime min- 
ister. 11. After a long struggle between justice and privilege, 
the latter prevailed, Calonne was dismissed, and after a brief 
interval succeeded by Brienne, whose first act was to dismiss 
the notables. The only resource now left for raising money, 
was by issuing royal edicts, but the parliament refused them 
registration. The new minister seemed to have chosen Riche- 
lieu for his model, regardless of the far different circumstances 
in which the government was placed ; he procured the exile 
of the parliament to Troyes, whence, after a few weeks, 
-ijoq they were recalled, more refractory than ever. The 
' minister next resolved to shelter himself under the 
king's authority ; at a royal sitting, Louis ordered several 



LOUIS XVI. 341 

financial edicts to be registered in his presence. 12. The duke 
of Orleans, who had lately placed himself at the head of the 
popular party, more through personal hatred of the queen 
than any regard for the public intecest, had the courage pub- 
licly to protest against the registration, for which he was exiled 
to his country seat. At length Brienne, after having retained 
the post of minister only eighteen months, during which period, 
however, he had done more real injury to the state than any 
of his predecessors, became terrified at the dangers by which 
he was surrounded, and resigned his situation ; he soon after 
died in retirement, overwhelmed by shame and disappointment. 

13. Necker was recalled to the ministry, and as he attri- 
buted his former dismissal to the influence of the aristocracy 
and the clergy, he resolved to strengthen himself by an alli- 
ance with the popular party, and for this purpose prevailed 
on the king to convoke the states-general. A convention of 
the notables was summoned to decide on the necessary preli- 
minaries for this national convocation. There were two great 
questions to be decided — whether the deputies of the commons 
should be equal in number to those of the nobility severally or 
collectively? and whether the states should meet in separate 
chambers or in one general assembly ? The first point was 
decided in favour of the popular party ; the latter, and in- 
finitely the more important question, was left to the decision 
of the states-general themselves. Such an assembly had not 
been convoked since 1614; at no time does their constitution 
appear to have been fixed and determinate ; the summoning 
them was therefore looked on as a boon to the nation, and any 
prudent conditions affixed to their meeting would have met 
with universal acquiescence; but the foolish precipitancy of 
Necker caused this golden opportunity to be neglected, and 
the consequences were fatal. 

14. The assembly of the states-general took place at 
Versailles on the 5th of May; the session was opened i.^eq 
by the king in a brief but patriotic speech, Necker 
presented his financial report, and every thing seemed to pro- 
mise peace and tranquillity. But these appearances were 
delusive; the representatives of the commons soon perceived 
their superior strength, and at once insisted that the states-gen- 
eral should form but one body. The clergy and the nobility 
protested against this claim, by which they foresaw that their 
privileges would be annihilated ; they were supported by the 
court, but they were betrayed by a large portion of both their 
own orders. 15. The inferior clergy were disgusted with the 
29* 



342 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




The States-General. 

haughtiness and power of the prelates ; they were, besides, 
united to the commons by the prejudices of birth and educa- 
tion ; a considerable body of the nobility, headed by the duke 
of Orleans, privately encouraged the popular party to persist 
in their claims, promising to unite with them on the first op- 
portunity. Thus supported, the deputies of the commons 
passed a decree, by which they declared themselves the Na- 
tional Assembly. The court rashly attempted, by a demon- 
stration of violence, to compel the deputies to alter their reso- 
lution, but the firmness of the popular leaders was not to be 
shaken ; they declared that they would remain in the assembly 
until they were expelled by actual force. The junction of a 
majority of the clergy and a large minority of the nobles with 
the third estate, completed the defeat of the court, and Louis, 
to prevent greater calamities, wrote, himself, to the remaining 
portions of the privileged orders, advising them to unite with the 
national assembly. 16. The courtiers of Louis XVI., more eager 
to preserve their pensions and privileges than their country or 
their monarch, hurried the monarch into acts of indiscretion 



LOUIS XVI. 343 

which still more increased the popular excitement. A. large 
army was collected between Paris and Versailles ; Necker, 
whom the court justly looked on as the cause of all their diffi- 
culties, was dismissed ; a report was spread that the national 
assembly would be dissolved, and some of the leading popular 
deputies capitally punished for high treason. In this stale of 
things, it required the most extreme caution on the part of the 
royalists lo prevent the people from breaking out into open 
rebellion ; but, unfortunately, the nobility of France had been 
too long accustomed to look upon the commonalty as an infe- 
rior order of beings, whom the first appearance of a mihtary 
force would terrify into submission. While an unarmed mob 
were bearing in procession the images of Necker and the duke 
of Orleans, they were imprudently attacked by a party of royal 
dragoons, and the busts broken. The city at once rose as one 
man; the citizens formed themselves into a military body, 
under the title of the national guard ; they seized on all the 
arms in the gun-smiths' shops, and took possession of several 
pieces of cannon and thirty thousand stand of arms, which 
were kept at the hospital of the invalids. 

17. The 14th of July is usually esteemed the date 
of the commencement of the revolution. On that day i.^oq 
the memorable capture of the Bastille took place. The 
governor, de Launay, anticipating an attack, had made every 
possible preparation for defence; the store of ammunition was 
increased, the garrison were all at their posts, but the assault 
against which they had to defend themselves was that of the 
whole population of Paris. The plan of attack was formed 
on the evening of the 13th, but all plans were superseded by 
the fury of the populace. Early on the morning of the 14th, 
groups of armed men were seen forming in the vicinity of the 
fortress ; the governor ordered the cannon to be turned on the 
capital, but was prevailed upon to remove them, as they only 
served to increase the fury of the people. Shortly afterwards, 
a deputation from the commune of Paris, headed by the pop- 
ular leaders, arrived, and demanded a conference with the 
governor. The draw-bridge was lowered for their admission, 
but they had scarcely entered the first court when they were 
followed by a multitude demanding arms and. ammunition. 
On seeing this, the governor ordered the bridge to be raised, 
and directed the garrison to fire upon the intruders. The 
shrieks of the wounded and dying; the confused cries of" as- 
sassination ! treason 1" redoubled the rage of the assailants. 
Two men, lowering themselves from a guard-house, got be- 



344 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



yond the bridge and broke its chains with an axe, under a 
heavy fire of musketry. The garrison still kept the assailants 
in check, but the arrival of a detachment of grenadiers, with 
some pieces of cannon, gave fresh energy to the besiegers. 
Heaps of straw were set on fire beneath the walls to conceal 
their movements, while a heavy fire from the neighbouring 
houses nearly drove the besieged from the ramparts. 




The Bastille. 

The governor, in despair, resolved to blow up the fortress, 
but was prevented ; he solicited a barrel of gunpowder for his 
own destruction, but this also was denied ; and at length a 
white flag was hoisted on the battlements, and the garrison 
capitulated. The invalids laid down their arms, and a de- 
tachment was ordered to escort the governor to the Hotel de 
Ville as a place of safety, but, just as he reached the steps of 
the building, he fell a victim to the fury of the populace ; his 
head, and that of the second in command, were borne on pikes 
in a triumphant procession through the streets of Paris. 

18. The two parlies into which France was divided were 
now fairly at issue, the nobility attached to the court, and the 
feudal lords of the country, were determined at all hazards to 
retain their privileges ; the middle and lower ranks of hfe 
were determined to preserve the advantage they had acquired 
over an aristocracy that had abused its powers. The king, 
placed between both, had not sufficient energy to adhere firmly 



LOUIS XVI. 345 

to either ; early associations, the arts of the courtiers, and the 
influence of the queen, led him to check ih^ rising power of 
the commons by measures both injudicious and intemperate; 
while a dread of popular violence and a noble dislike to the 
shedding of blood, induced him to retrace his steps at the first 
appearance of determined resistance. This vacillating policy, 
at all times dangerous, vi^as, under the circumstances of France 
at the period, certain destruction. 19. On the 4th of August 
M. de Noailles and M. d'Aiguillon, both members of the no- 
bility, endeavoured to conciliate the people by a noble sacri- 
fice. They proposed that all the privileges belonging to their 
order should be abolished, and that all remaining traces of the 
feudal system should be abolished in France. The greater 
part of the nobility and clergy supported the proposition with 
zeal, and it was strange to see the enthusiasm with which the 
different privileged orders hastened to resign all the peculiar 
distinctions which had hitherto distinguished their rank in the 
state. But this sacrifice was made in vain ; the popular party 
looked on it as a boon extracted by terror, and the provincial 
nobility, a body remarkable for pride, poverty, and ignorance, 
saw themselves degraded below the class of merchants and 
traders, whom they had previously been accustomed to de- 
spise. 

20. The very rapidity with which they had obtained their 
liberty unfitted the French nation for its enjoyment, and made 
them jealous of its security. Suspicions were naturally enter- 
tained of the sincerity of the court, and though they were par- 
tially dispelled by the king's judicious visit to Paris, they broke 
out with new violence in consequence of the queen's indiscre- 
tion. At a dinner given by the soldiers of one regiment to 
the officers of another, Marie Antoinette made her appearance 
with the dauphin in her arms, probably in imitation of her 
mother's appeal to the states of tlungary. She was received 
with enthusiasm ; the king was persuaded to enter, and several 
royalist toasts were drunk in his presence. The wine flowed 
freely, and under its influence many of the officers, who were 
chiefly young nobles, gave vent to sentiments which were ad- 
verse to the rising liberties of the nation. 21. An exaggerated 
narrative of these ridiculous orgies was spread through Paris, 
the dread of a counter-revolution became general, and the na- 
tional guard, now organised into a regular army under the 
command of La Fayette, prepared to defend their liberty, 
which they believed to be threatened. On the 5th of October, 
the sound of the tocsin alarmed Paris, the people assembled in 



346 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

tumultuous groups, and a rt'solution was taken to bring the 
king by force to the capital. A multitude of both sexes set 
out for Versailles ; the women to make a representation to the 
king of the famine which prevailed in Paris ; the men to be 
revenged on the royal guards for an insult said to have been 
ofTered to the national cockade. These were followed by the 
national guard under the command of La Fayette, whose pro- 
fessed design was to request of the king to come with them to 
Paris, but they were silent as to their intentions in case of a 
refusal. 22. On the morning of the sixth, the palace was at- 
tacked by a fierce mob, several of the royal guards murdered, 
the queen obliged to fly half naked to the king's apartments, 
and the whole royal family on the very brink of being mur- 
dered. At this moment La Fayette appeared, but found that he 
had overrated his influence ; nothing would satisfy the mob 
but the king's immediatt-ly setting out for Paris, and with a 
heavy heart he found himself forced to obey. Nothing can 
be conceived more humiliating than this journey, which lasted 
six hours, though the distance is but twelve miles; the royal 
carriages were surrounded bj^ an infuriate mob, red with 
slaughter and maddened with success; the heads of the mur- 
dered soldiers who had fallen victims to their loyalty were 
borne on pikes, and even held before the windows of the king's 
coach with cruel insult. The king was lodged in the Tuil- 
leries, the city was brilliantly illuminated, and the Parisians 
spent the night in extravagant joy. The national assembly 
followed the king, and for the future held their sittings in Paris. 

Forced to reside in Paris, the king invited the national 
assembly to transfer their sittings to the capital, which they 
did. The duke of Orleans wailed on the king, who received 
him without bitterness ; but called his attention to the various 
sinister acts imputed to him. He accepted his submission ; 
but, in order to tranquillize the city, ordered him to proceed 
to England ; and, under the pretext of being charged with a 
special mission, the duke set out for London. Some of the 
emissaries of his faction, however, were stationed at Bou- 
loo-ne, where he was to embark, in order to compel him to 
return to Paris ; and the positive orders of the king and the 
national assembly were necessary to make him continue his 
journey. 

The first care of the king was to endeavour to provide for 
the capital being properly supplied with provisions ; and 
the queen, to relieve the sufl^ering poor, engaged to redeem 
from the Monte de Piete all articles, such as linen and house 



LOUIS XVI. 



347 



hold goods, which had been pledged for sums not exceeding 
twenty-four livres. But the most outrageous calumnies 
continued to be daily circulated against the king, and more 
especially against the queen. They were exposed to a 
series of wanton insults ; and, confined within the walls of 
Paris, it was only during certain hours in the day that they 
were allowed to promenade the gardens of the Tuilleries. 
This restraint was so long continued, that at length the 
royal sufferers became objects of pity ; and a deputation 
from the municipality, with the mayor at their head, peti- 
tioned the assembly that the king might be allowed the 
indulgence of the chase, which, from his being long accus- 
tomed to it, had become necessary to his health ; but Louis 
expressed himself content to give it up, in the then state of 
public affairs. 




Prince of Conde. 



348 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Robespierre and Danton. 



A. D. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

LOUIS XVI. IN CONTINUATION. 

The senate weak, divided and irresolute, 
Want power to succour the afflicted state ; 
Vainly in words and long debate they're wise, 
VVhile the fierce factions scorn their peaceful orders. 
And drown the voice of law in noise and anarchy. 

RoWE. 

1. The king of France was now a prisoner in his 
vyeq °^^" capital, and hiad no other choice but to assent to 
* the changes proposed by the national assembly or 
resign his crown. The first and most important of the pro- 
posed alterations was the confiscation of the church property, 
which was ordered to be sold for the advantage of the nation, 
but at the same time it was agreed that a sufficient portion of 
the revenue should be applied to the maintenance of the 
clergy, and other ecclesiastical purposes. On the same day 
that this decree was passed, another law was enacted, sweep- 
ing away all distinctions of rank whatever, coats of arms, titles 
of honour, «fec. ; Necker had the courage to oppose the latter 
decree, but his resistance was vain, and finding his popularity 



LOUIS XVI. 349 

on the wane, he had the good sense to withdraw from public 
hfe, and spend the remainder of his days in literary retirement. 
2. The character of Necker has suffered equally from his 
friends and enemies, the injudicious and unmerited praises 
bestowed on him by the former, have induced the world to 
lend a more ready ear to the calumnies of the latter; his in- 
tentions appear to have been always honest, but he had not 
sufficient firmness to put them into execution ; his abihties as 
a financier would have made him a valuable auxiliary to a 
clever statesman, but his want of political wisdom unfitted 
him for the situation of premier, especially in such a troublous 
period as the reign of Louis XVI. 

3. The greater part of the nobility and the royal 
family had emigrated, and formed a small army on the 1^00 
frontiers. They declared that the king being under 
duresse,* no act of his would be valid. The king perceiving 
the dangers to which he was exposed by such injudicious 
conduct on the part of his friends, went voluntarily to the 
national assembly, took an oath of fidelity to the new constitu- 
tion, and repeated it afterwards at a solemn act of federation 
held in the Champ de Mars. This was a very imposing 
spectacle, but it was merely a spectacle ; the revolutionists, or 
at least a large portion of them, seem now to have resolved on 
the establishment of a republic, while the friends of the old 
regime contemplated nothing less than the establishment of 
the ancient despotism. The monarchs of Europe, who at first 
looked on with apathy, began to take a lively interest in the 
affairs of France, especially the court of Austria, so nearly 
connected with the hapless Marie Antoinette. All these circum- 
stances made the friends of the revolution look with a suspi- 
cious eye on their monarch, while the indignities to which he 
was daily subjected, naturally disgusted him with the freedom 
which repaid all his sacrifices with sufferings and with sorrow. 

4. The prince of Conde assumed the command of 

the little army of emigrants, too small to produce any i-vq/ 
impression on France, but sufficiently numerous to in- 
spire a vindictive jealousy, which was visited on the head of 
the unfortunate monarch. The only persons of the royal 
family now remaining in France were the king and queen 
with their children ; monsieur, the king's brother, and his wife, 
madame ; and the princess Elizabeth, the king's sister. Worn 
out by the persecutions to which they were exposed, they me- 

* Duresse, a force that prevents the exercise of the will. 

30 



350 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

dilated their escape to the frontiers, an attempt in which Mon- 
sieur and Madame fortunately succeeded. 5. A strange fatality 
seems to have disconcerted every arrangement made for the 
rescue of Louis XVI. Never was there a plan better formed, 
nor with greater chances of success than that for the escape 
of the king ; passports were procured for the royal family 
under fictitious names, a body of faithful troops were ready to 
meet them at the pont de Sommerville, and the army at Lon- 
guy, under the command of M. de Bouille, was ready to re- 
store the falling throne. But an accidental delay ruined every 
thing, the escort having wailed long beyond the appointed time, 
rode off from the place of rendezvous, the king having impru- 
dently put his head out of the coach-window was recognized 
by Drouet, son to the postmaster of Varennes ; the escort com- 
ing up too late found that they could not advance farther with- 
out a fierce struggle ; and Louis, ever desirous to prevent the ef- 
fusion of blood, surrendered himself a prisoner. He was brought 
back to Paris by a tumultuous mob, and detained in honourable 
captivity at the palace of the Tuilleries. 6. The emigration 
continually augmented ; the nobility with their dependants 
flocked to Coblentz, and scarcely disguised their intention of 
checking the progress of the revolution by force of arms. The 
national assembly having completed their projected outline of 
a constitution, presented it to the king for acceptance ; the 
monarch publicly swore to its observance, and the event was 
celebrated by a public fete in the Champ de Mars. 

7. The national assembly having, as they fondly supposed, 
placed the liberty and tranquillity of France on a sure basis, 
dissolved themselves, after having declared themselves inca- 
pable of being elected members of the legislative assembly 
by which they were succeeded. This exclusion of all who 
might have learned wisdom from experience was a fatal mea- 
sure ; the legislative assembly, consisting principally of men 
chiefly remarkable for violence and enthusiasm, soon gave the 
most lamentable proofs of their utter unfitness for managing 

the affairs of the nation. The most violent decrees 
ITQQ were issued against the emigrants, and at length war 
'^* was declared against the emperor of Austria for having 
given them his protection. Every thing seemed to threaten 
the speedy downfall of the monarch3% and the injudicious con- 
duct of the king's friends hastened the fatal consummation. 

8. The duke of Brunswick having been appointed to the 
command of the allied army of Austrians, Prussians, and emi- 
grants, issued a proclamation at Coblentz, couched in language 



LOUIS XVI. 351 

the most calculated to provoke the determined resistance of an 
independent nation. He denounced military execution against 
all who, in the slightest degree, supported the revolution, and 
insisted on the complete restoration of the former despotism, 
under the pain of giving Paris up to be plundered, and punish- 
ing as rebels all those who made any resistance. 9. The effect 
of this intemperate and ill-timed effusion on a people so re- 
markable for their national vanity as the French, may easily 
be conjectured ; all who had hitherto wavered became violent 
revolutionists, and those who had been previously inclined to 
preserve some share of power to the king, threw themselves 
into the ranks of his enemies. 10. On the 20th of June an 
infuriate mob made an attack upon the palace, subjected the 
unfortunate king to the most cruel insults, and retired after 
having degraded royalty by forcing the king to wear, instead 
of a diadem, a red cap, which was the signal of revolt. 11. 
But this was merely preparatory to the fearful tragedy of the 
10th of August, At half-past ten o'clock on the morning of 
that day, the populace collected in vast multitudes around the 
palace. The legislative body assembled on the report of a 
general insurrection, and the king having received an oath from 
the Swiss and part of the national guard, that they would de- 
fend his person and family, took shelter with the queen and 
his children in the hall of the national assembly. Soon after, 
the mob attempted to force an entrance into the palace, and the 
Swiss at length, compelled to fire, forced them back with the 
loss of two hundred men. A furious battle ensued, but the 
violence of the multitude forced through every obstacle. The 
palace was carried by storm, its brave defenders were massa- 
cred without mercy, the halls streamed with blood, the stair- 
case was piled with the mangled bodies of the slain. Sixty 
of the Swiss guard, arrested in various places, were dragged 
to the Place de Greve and executed ; those who attempted to 
escape were pursued and murdered in the Champs Elysees, or 
upon the banks of the river. 12. On the 14th of the same 
month, the royal family were sent as prisoners to the old palace 
of the Temple, a gloomy and melancholy place, which seemed 
but too well suited to their altered fortunes. 13. The victo- 
ries of the duke of Brunswick made the Parisians tremble for 
their capital, and the populace were stimulated to fresh ex- 
cesses by the Jacobin party, as it has been usually called, at 
the head of which were Danton and Robespierre, men of the 
most daring and sanguinary character. On the second of 
September, about three in the afternoon, the mob assembled 



352 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

under these ferocious leaders, and resolved to murder all the 
prisoners who had been arrested on suspicion of being disin- 
clined to the revolution. The scene that followed is inde- 
scribable, the assassins massacred all without distinction of sex 
or age, the innocent and the guilty fell indiscriminately, and 
the blood of the victims for six days flowed in an uninterrupted 
torrent through the streets of the city. No obstacle to the car- 
nage was offered by the government, the murderers were paid 
a daily salary from the public funds, and the Jacobins cele- 
brated this horrid tragedy as a splendid victory. 

14. In the midst of all these horrors, the legislative assem- 
bly terminated its labours, and was succeeded by the national 
convention. The greater part of the members were returned 
by the influence of the Jacobin party, and were firmly resolved 
on the deposition and trial of the king. On the very second 
day of their meeting they voted for the abolition of royalty in 
France, and so far did the rage of republicanism extend, that 
the ordinary appellations of Monsieur and Madame were pro- 
hibited, and the appellation of citizen, as being more agreeable 
to principles of equality, substituted in their stead. 15. The 
arms of the republic were successful against the allies ; before 
the close of the year the duke of Brunswick was not only 
driven out of the country, but the French, becoming invaders 
in their turn, captured several important places in the Austrian 
Netherlands and in the provinces bordering on the Rhine. 
16. The unfortunate prisoners in the Temple had been long 
subjected to every species of cruelty and indignity ; the head 
of the princess de Lamballe, one of the victims of the second 
of September, was paraded before the window of the queen, 
whose favourite she had been ; the guards appointed to watch 
the royal captives insulted them every moment ; the common 
necessaries of life were withheld, and they hourly expected to 
fall victims to the violence of the populace or the secret 
treachery of their guards. 

17. At length, on the 20th of December, Louis was brought 
as a criminal to the bar of the convention. The crimes attri- 
buted to him were utterly without foundation. He was 
accused of having accepted the constitution with bad faith, and 
of correspondence with foreign powers hostile to France. Not 
a shadow of proof was offered in support of these charges, 
which, even if true to the last letter, could not affect his invio- 
labihty as settled by the constitution. The fallen monarch 
demanded a copy of the accusation, and the right of naming 
counsel to conduct his defence, requests which were conceded 



LOUIS XVI. 



353 




Tower of the Temple. 

with some difficulty. He chose as his advocates Deseze and 
Tronchet, two lawyers highly distinguished for their ability 
and integrity, together with the venerable Malesherbes. After 
a long trial, in which the king's advocates exhibited the 
greatest zeal and talent, the monarch was condemned to death 
by a majority of five votes. 18. The duke of Orleans, who 
had lately assumed the title of Philip Egalite, was one of those 
who voted for the judicial murder of his cousin and his king. 

19. Louis received the account of his condemnation 
with firmness, and solicited a brief delay to arrange his i^qo 
worldly affairs, and prepare himself for another world. 
This was refused, but he was permitted to see his family, and 
bid them farewell. The abbe Edgeworth was chosen by the 
king as his confessor, be visited him on the evening of the 
20th January, and Louis, after having received the rites of the 
church, retired to bed, where he slept soundly. At nine 
o'clock on the following morning, a message was brought to 
inform him that " a carriage was in waiting." He immedi- 
ately rose, and, accompanied by his confessor, walked steadily 
through the outer court of the Temple to the gate, where the 
mayor's coach stood ready to receive him. The mournful 
procession moved slowly through deep files of soldiers, who 
30* X 



354 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

lined the streets from the Temple to the place of execution 
The melancholy procession occupied two hours, during which 
time Louis employed himself in repeating with his confessor 
the prayers for persons at the point of death. He ascended 
the scaffold with a firm step, and said with a loud voice, 
"Frenchmen, I die innocent, and I trust that my blood" — at 
this moment Santerre ordered the drums to beat, and the rest 
of the sentence was inaudible. Louis then quietly resigned 
himself to the executioner ; he was bound to the fatal instru- 
ment, and his head fell. Some few cried out Vive la nation, 
but the greater part of the spectators were melted into tears. 
His body, without being placed in a coffin, was hurriedly 
thrown into a plain grave, and quick-lime poured over it to 
accelerate the decomposition. Thus perished in the 39th year 
of his age, one of the most virtuous monarchs that ever filled 
the throne of France, a victim to the indiscretion of his friends 
and the malice of his enemies. 

20. In the course of the year, the unfortunate queen, and 
madame Elizabeth, the king's sister, were sacrificed to the 
mad cruelty of the republicans. The young dauphin, after 
having been forcibly torn from his mother's arms, was given 
in charge to a cobbler named Simon, a monster that vitiated 
his infant mind and destroyed his health ; but death fortunately 
soon released him from his miseries. The last survivor of the 
royal family, the princess who subsequently became the 
duchess of Angouleme, was, after a tedious captivity, exchanged 
with the Austrians for some French prisoners of distinction. 

2L Phihp Egalite derived no advantage from the infamous 
vote by which he had endeavoured to acquire popularity. He 
was accused of infideHty to the repubhc, convicted, and hur- 
ried to execution, amid the shouts and execrations of the mul- 
titude, which he sustained with great patience, and submitted 
to his fate with surprising resolution. 

The abuses which were experienced while France, norai- 
nally under her kings, was really governed by a series of 
mistresses and their minions, paved the way for the convul- 
sions which were to follow. From the affected piety which 
was the order of the day at the close of Louis XIV. 's reign, 
the transition to the shameless dissipation which prevailed 
under the regent was striking in the extreme. France had 
ample reason to be disgusted with the monstrous profusion 
and gratuitous scorn for decorum exhibited by many of her 
rulers. By them the church was degraded. Offices that 
ought to have been held by men of unblemished fame were 



LOUIS XVI. 355 

given to reprobates, whose lives were a satire on the sacred 
rank they were permitted to hold. The clergy, corrupted 
by their superiors lent themselves to conceal — to extenuate 
their vices, and were mixed up with their intrigues, till the 
whole mass became too offensive for endurance. For a 
time, the reflecting complained unheard ; the thoughtless 
laughed at the apprehensions of the wise ; and the system 
which enabled certain classes to revel in luxury, and mock 
the sufferings of others, was supposed to be based on a rock 
which would endure for ever. 

But, in all enlightened countries, monstrous oppression is 
sooner or later followed by a daring irresistible effort to 
recover freedom. The volcanic fire may smoulder long, but 
at last it bursts forth with terrifying violence. Louis XV., 
in the midst of his sensual abandonment, perceived that " a 
great coming was on its way." " Society grows old," said 
he, that society which he, through the audacity of his grand- 
father, had known all his life, " but it will last my time." 
In this he was not deceived ; and the tempest which lowered 
over degraded royalty, while he wore the crown, burst in 
thunder on the head of his hapless successor. The violence 
and the vices which had long surrounded the throne prepared 
the way for its overthrow. It was in vain that Louis XVI. 
strove, by the urbanity of his manners, and by really im- 
portant concessions, to appease the raging multitude. The 
temple had been fired, and the conflagration was not to be 
stayed. For the mournful sequel, we have only to say, it 
was similar to that which has been too often witnessed in 
the course of human affairs : the long suffering victims rose 
in their might, to become in their turn heardess vindictive 
tyrants ; and distracted France punished the crimes of mo- 
narchy but to precipitate herself into a sea of blood, and the 
more intolerable horrors of revolutionary anarchy, from 
which she could only be snatched by a new despot, and the 
genius of a Napoleon. 



356 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




The Tuilleries. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



THE REPUBLIC. 

sacred hunger of ambitious mindes 

And impotent desire of men to reign! 
Whom neither dread of God, that devils bindes, 

Nor lawes of men, that eommon-weales containe. 
Nor bands of nature, that wild beasts restraine, 

Can keepe from outrage, and from doing wrong, 
Where they may hope a kingdom to obtaine, 

No faith so firm, no trust can be so strong, 
No love so lasting then, that may enduren long. 

Spensek. 

1. The tragical end of Louis XVI., the success of 
, Jqq the French arms, and a vote of the convention against 
' monarchical power, produced a general coalition of the 
European courts. The convention did not wait to be attacked, 
but boldly declared that the republic was at war with the king 
of England and the stadtholder of Holland. The campaign 
commenced with a series of reverses on the part of the French, 
which induced the leaders of the Jacobin party to suspect 



THE REPUBLIC. 357 

general Dumourier of treachery. 2. Four commissaries were 
sent with Boumouville, the minister at war, to bring him to 
Paris for trial; but Dumourier was by no means willing to 
fall a victim to the convention ; he arrested the commissioners 
and sent them as hostages to the Austrians. He hoped that 
by his personal influence he would have prevailed on the 
army to join him in efl^ecting the restoration of monarchy ; but 
finding himself disappointed, and dreading that he would be 
given up to the convention, he fled to the Austrian camp, and 
thus terminated his military career for ever. 

3. The party of the Jacobins, or the Mountain, as it has 
sometimes been called, were now triumphant in the conven- 
tion ; and it would be impossible to give even an imperfect 
delineation of the mingled atrocities and absurdities which 
they perpetrated. Their rule was emphatically denominated 
the Reign of Terror. All who dared to oppose the madness 
of the day were dragged to the scaffold ; the catalogue of public 
crimes to be punished with death was extended to the most 
innocent actions, and the first fruits of French liberty were a 
tyranny more odious than had ever before disgraced any 
country. Impiety accompanied cruelty, Christianity was de- 
clared to be abolished as an useless superstition, the churches 
were pillaged, their lands confiscated, and their plate melted 
down to pay the soldiers. The entire calendar was changed 
in order to efface the remembrance of the days consecrated to 
devotion, and it was declared that the only deities acknow- 
ledged by regenerated France, were Liberty and Reason, In 
short, a national insanity seems to have prevailed, that hurried 
men on to commit crime for the mere pleasure of being 
criminal. 

4. The campaign, a little after its commencement, seemed 
to promise the allies a favourable issue ; Conde was delivered 
up to the Austrians, and Valenciennes was captured by the 
English, under the command of the duke of York. But the 
British general having laid siege to Dunkirk, was forced to 
retire by general Houchard, with the loss of a large portion of 
his arms and ammunition. On the upper Rhine the Austro- 
Frussian army was more successful, and forced general Cus- 
tine to retreat. The victorious Houchard and the defeated 
Custine were, however, equally obnoxious to the convention, 
and were both guillotined. Shortly afterwards, twenty mem- 
bers of the convention were brought to trial on vague accusa- 
tions and sentenced to death. Bailly, the mayor of Paris, who 



358 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

had been one of the most conspicuous leaders of the revolu- 
tion, was among the number. 

5. In several parts of the country disgust at the crimes of 
the capital produced insurrectionary movements. Lyons set 
the example, and supported a long siege before it fell into the 
hands of the revolutionary army, but then its fate was dread- 
ful ; at the head of the commission sent down by the conven- 
tion to investigate the crimes of the unfortunate city, was a vile 
buffoon named Collot d'Herbois, who had in former years been 
hissed off that stage. 6. Thousands of persons perished by 
his orders ; the executioners were unable to destroy the vic- 
tims with sufficient celerity, and cannon was directed against 
them to insure their wholesale destruction. Marseilles, to 
avoid a similar fate, submitted, but the people of Toulon sur- 
rendered their town and fleet to the English. The revolutionary 
army approached, and principally by the judicious measures 
of Napoleon Buonaparte, a young Corsican,* whose name was 
afterwards to fill so large a portion of the history of the world, 
compelled the British to evacuate the town. Before their de- 
parture they burned most of the vessels which they could not 
bring off; but the inhabitants of Toulon were left to meet the 
same fate as those of Lyons. 

7. In another quarter a still fiercer war was carried on. The 
inhabitants of La Vendee had been from the very beginning 
of the revolution inclined to support the cause of royalty, and 
had shown many proofs of their dislike for the new republic. 
At length they commenced a furious war on the convention 
and its supporters, which in the beginning was everywhere 
crowned with success. But the allies neglected to send them 
assistance until it was too late ; the leaders became jealous of 
each other, disunion crept into their councils, while an over- 
whelming army of the republic spread devastation through the 
province. Peace was restored to La Vendee, but it was the 
peace of desolation, obtained by the ruin of the province and 
massacre of its inhabitants. 

8. The close of this eventful year saw the republic every 
where triumphant. The Prusso-Austrian army were com- 
pelled to retire before the French under Hoche and Pichegru, 
and the alhes who had commenced so successfully, were in the 
end defeated by an enemy whom they had rashly despised. 

* Buonaparte's military propensities were indicated at the school 
of Brienne, where he commanded his schoohnates in their mimic 
warfare of snowballs and snow forts. 



THE REPUBLIC. 



359 




THE REPUBLIC. 361 

9. The preparations for the following campaign were 
on the most extensive scale ; like the former it began i~'qV 
favourably for the allies and terminated in their total 
defeat. The convention issued orders to their soldiers to give 
rw quarter to the allies ; on the other hand, the duke of York 
issued a proclamation forbidding the British soldiers to retaliate, 
and reminding them that humanity is the greatest ornament 
of heroism. 10. At length the Parisians themselves became 
wearied of the crimes of the Jacobins. On the 28th of July, 
France was delivered from those monsters, who set no bounds 
to their sanguinary fury ; they were all dragged before that 
revolutionary tribunal, by means of which they had committed 
so many crimes, and lost their lives on the same scaffold which 
they had inundated with the blood of so many thousand vic- 
tims. From thenceforward, the republic ceased to exhibit the 
horrid scenes of massacre and bloodshed by which it had been 
hitherto disgraced. 

11. In this memorable year the French won six pitched 
battles, and captured one hundred and twenty-four towns ; but 
the British squadron maintained their superiority by 
sea, and almost all the French colonies in the West -i-Jqk 
Indies were taken without much difficulty. Pichegru, 
who commanded the army of the repubhc in the Netherlands, 
did not suspend military operations during the winter. Taking 
advantage of a heavy frost, he crossed the Waal on the ice, 
and in an incredibly short space of time subdued Holland. 
The prince of Orange was forced to take refuge in England, 
and the United Provinces, under the name of the Batavian re- 
public, became a dependency of France. 12. Soon after, the 
allies were weakened by the defection of Prussia, which pro- 
fessed a strict neutrality, and Spain, which, though governed 
by a prince of the Bourbon family, entered into a league, of- 
fensive and defensive, with the republic. 13. The burden of 
the war now fell upon Austria and England ; the imperial 
forces, after having gained some successes on the Rhine, con- 
cluded an armistice with their opponents ; the efforts of the 
British were confined to an ill-concerted expedition against the 
French coast, designed to revive the war in La Vendee. The 
French emigrants, with a numerous body of their countrymen 
which the British government had in pay, made a descent in 
the bay of Quiberon. Having taken possession of a fort de- 
fended by the republicans, they entrenched themselves in a 
position selected by their leader, the count d'Herville, with 
more courage than judgment. Here they were attacked by 
31 



362 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the republicans under general Hoche, their camp surprised, 
and the greater portion of their army either slain or made 
prisoners. 

14. During the armistice between the French and 
■f^QP Austrians, both parties made extensive preparations for 
■ renewing the war. The command of the republican 
army in Italy was entrusted to Napoleon Buonaparte, who had 
already distinguished himself at the siege of Toulon. Ele- 
vated at the early age of twenty-six to a station of such im- 
portance, he soon showed such proofs of military skill, as 
placed him at the head of all the generals in Europe. In one 
campaign the Austrians lost the greater part of Italy, the Pied- 
montese and the pope were forced to purchase security by sub- 
mitting to whatever terms the conqueror pleased to impose, and 
the king of Naples compelled to seek peace on humiliating 
conditions. The most brilliant action of the campaign was 
the passage of the bridge of Lodi, which was forced by the 
French grenadiers in the teeth of the Austrian batteries, which 
vainly poured a murderous shower of grape-shot on the ad- 
vancing columns. 15. The campaign on the Rhine was less 
fortunate but equally honourable ; after the Austrians had de- 
feated marshal Jourdan, the ruin of the French army com- 
manded by Moreau seemed inevitable, but that general by a 
masterly retreat, which lasted twenty-seven days, disconcerted 
all the schemes of the enemy, and brought his army safely 
across the Rhine in the presence of the hostile army. 

16. In the course of the year the French made an attempt 
to invade Ireland, in order to assist the United Irishmen, who 
were discontented with the conduct of the British government. 
The fleet escaped from Brest, without being discovered by the 
English squadron, but a violent storm dispersed the ships, and 
prevented those which reached Bantry-bay from effecting a 
landing. As many of the soldiers that had been sent on this 
expedition were criminals taken from the galleys, the French 
government did not know how to treat them on their return. 
At length they determined to send them against Great Britain 
itself. They effected a landing at Fishguard in Wales, on the 
23d of February 1797, and surrendered themselves prisoners 
the same evening without making any resistance. 

17. Mantua, the last strong hold of the Austrians in 

,^^^ Italy, having surrendered, Buonaparte advanced along 

■''■ the shores of the Adriatic, and passing through the 

Alpine defiles which separate Italy from Germany, threatened 

Vienna. The emperor, terrified at the dangers by which he 



364 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




tr'^mt"' *^^v. 




THE REPUBLIC. 365 

was threatened, hastened to make a peace. A treaty was 
concluded at Campo Formio, by which the Austrian Nether- 
lands were given up to France, and the north of Italy, nomi- 
nally formed into an independent state, under the name of the 
Cisalpine republic, was virtually subjected to the same power. 
18. The constitution of France was gradually assuming a 
monarchical form, two councils, that of the ancients, and that 
of the five hundred, had succeeded the convention, and the 
executive power was entrusted to a directory that held the 
regal authority in commission. 

19. England alone now opposed the republic, and 
by its naval superiority sustained the contest with iJqq 
vigour. The French marine had never recovered the 
blow inflicted by lord Howe on the 1st of June 1794 ; the 
Spanish fleet had been signally defeated off' Cape St. Vincent 
in 1797, and in the latter end of the same year, the Dutch 
navy had been nearly annihilated in a sanguinary battle near 
Camperdown. This prevented the French from aiding the 
insurgents in Ireland, who had actually taken up arms. The 
rebellion was over before any attempt to aid the insurgents 
was made by the French, and even then only about a thou- 
sand men were sent, who were soon forced to surrender. 
20. Buonaparte having subdued Switzerland, and deposed 
the pope without meeting any resistance, resolved, if possible, 
to humble the British, whose insular situation protected them 
from his ambition and his vengeance. Perceiving that her 
commerce with India was one of the great sources of British 
wealth ; to destroy this, he resolved to take possession of 
Egypt. At the same time the Directory, probably to disguise 
their real designs, threatened an invasion of England, but after 
much boasting it was laid aside as impracticable. The fleet 
and army designed for the subjugation of Egypt sailed from 
Toulon on the 13th of May ; by the treachery of the knights 
they obtained possession of Malta, and pursuing their course, 
landed safely in Egypt, where they soon made themselves 
masters of Alexandria. The victory of Embabeh secured 
them the possession of Cairo, and thus in a very short time 
the French found themselves masters of Lower Egypt. 

21. Meantime admiral Nelson had sailed in pursuit of the 
Toulon fleet, and had actually passed them in the Mediter- 
ranean, but the want of frigates prevented him from discover- 
ing their movements. At length he discovered them on the 
1st of August, moored in the bay of Aboukir, presenting an 
31* 



366 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



imposing line. Having made his arrangements, the English 
admiral commenced the engagement about sunset, and before 
the dawn of the following morning obtained one of the com- 
pletest victories recorded in the annals of naval warfare. Of 
the entire French fleet only two line-of-battle ships and two 
frigates escaped ; the rest were either burned or captured. 
Even those that fled were afterwards taken by the British 
cruisers in the Mediterranean. 

22. Buonaparte, thus cut off from all communication with 
France, pursued his conquests in Egypt with equal spirit and 
success. The splendid cavalry of the Mamelukes were de- 
feated in every attack that they made on the invaders, while 
the French horse, under the command of " the handsome 
swordsman," as Murat was generally called, were victorious 
in every encounter. Having provided for the security 
1700 of Egypt, Buonaparte advanced into Syria, but sullied 
all his triumphs by remorselessly murdering all his 
prisoners in cold blood at Jaffa. Soon after, he laid siege to 
Acre, which the Turks, aided by Sir Sidney Smith, defended 
with such bravery for sixty days, that Napoleon was com- 
pelled to return to Egypt. A splendid victory over the 







Siege of Acre. 



THE REPUBLIC. 367 

Mamelukes near Aboukir revived the drooping spirits of the 
army ; but Napoleon saw in the distraction of France an 
opportunity of obtaining higher honours than the laurels of 
Egypt, and having resigned the command of the army to 
general Kleber, he privately departed from Egypt. 

23. Having safely passed through the British cruisers that 
guarded the Mediterranean, he landed at Frejus and pro- 
ceeded to the capital, where he was received with the greatest 
enthusiasm. Aided by the unanimous support of the troops, 
he abolished the Directory, and in its place established a con- 
sulate, of which he was himself the chief. The council of 
five hundred, who opposed this arrangement, were dispersed 
at the point of the bayonet. This great revolution was effected 
without bloodshed, although certainly with violence, and 
thenceforward the French republic existed only in name. 

24. Meantime the Enghsh government had excited the 
Neapolitans and Austrians to renew the war. The Russian 
emperor sent an army under Suwarrow to aid the coalition, 
and thus strengthened, the allies had liberated Switzerland, 
recovered the north of Italy, and were even threatening an 
invasion of the southern French provinces. This gloomy 
aspect of affairs had facilitated the revolution of which we 
have just spoken ; for the nation, remembering the former 
triumphs of Napoleon, trusted that his abihties would restore 
their conquests and their glory. The first consul addressed a 
letter, professing the most pacific intentions, to the king of 
Great Britain, which was answered by Lord Grenville, in 
terms that plainly showed it to be the intention of the British 
cabinet to continue the war. 

25. The defection of the Emperor of Russia, who ^ ^ 
believed, with some justice, that the Austrians had not iqqA 
properly supported his general Suwarrow, consider- 
ably weakened the allies, and by giving Napoleon the undis- 
turbed possession of Switzerland, enabled him to execute the 
most extraordinary enterprise recorded in the history of war. 
23. This was to pass over the most difficult part of the Alps, 
and throwing himself in the rear of the Austrian army, to 
force genera] Melas to come to an engagement under circum- 
stances where reverse must needs be ruin. The better to 
conceal this project, he pretended to assemble an army of 
reserve at Dijon, and the Austrians, fixing their entire atten- 
tion on this mass of raw recruits, gave themselves up to the 
most extravagant transports of hope and joy. The march of 
a numerous army, with its train of ammunition-waggons and 



368 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

artillery, over mountains covered with, eternal snow, along 
airy ridges of rock, where the hunter of the chamois, the goat- 
herd, and the outlawed smuggler, are alone accustomed to 
venture, was an undertaking so perfectly astonishing, that the 
Austrians could scarcely believe the intelligence, when they 
learned that Napoleon, after having, hke Hannibal, triumphed 
over nature, was driving their posts before him through the 
north of Italy. 27. Melas marched to meet him, and on the 
13th of April was fought the decisive battle of Marengo. In 
this engagement the Austrians at first obtained great ad- 
vantages, which they failed to improve ; the arrival of the 
reserve under Dessaix checked their advance, while Napoleon 
recalled his retreating troops. The victory was yet doubtful, 
when the timely charge of Kellermann on the Austrian flank 
determined the fate of the day ; the imperialists were every 
where broken, hundreds were drowned in attempting to pass 
the little river Bormida, and whole corps, to avoid a similar 
fate, surrendered themselves prisoners. 28. After this brilliant 
achievement. Napoleon returned to Paris, where he was re- 
ceived with the greatest enthusiasm. He concluded an 
armistice with the Austrians, but the remonstrances of the 
British cabinet prevented the emperor from concluding the 
peace. During the progress of the negociations, the life of 
the first consul was in imminent danger from the plots of the 
jacobins and royalists, who were equally enemies to his 
usurpation. One of these, called the plot of the infernal 
machine, had nearly succeeded. A barrel of gunpowder, 
surrounded with grape-shot, was placed in a cart, which be- 
ing set on fire by a slow match, was to explode at the moment 
when Buonaparte was passing through a narrow street. The 
engine exploded only half a minute after his carriage had 
passed, killing twenty persons, and wounding more than fifty, 
but Napoleon escaped uninjured. He took advantage of the 
sensation excited by this treacherous attempt, to create a new 
arbitrary tribunal for the trial of oifences against the state, and 
to obtain new powers for himself, under the pretence of guard- 
ing the republic from its secret enemies. 

29. In November the war was renewed; it continued for 
some time indecisive, but at length the Austrians were de- 
feated in every point, and the bloody battle of Hohenlinden 
laid the empire prostrate at the feet of France. A treaty was 
concluded at Luneville, on terms dictated by the conqueror, 
and France was now the undisputed mistress of the con- 
tinent. 



THE REPUBLIC. 369 

30. England still maintained the contest single- 
handed, and sustained the glory of her arms by two iq^|' 
signal triumphs in parts of the globe far remote from 
each other. The army under the command of general Aber- 
cromby expelled the French from Egypt, but its gallant leader 
died in the moment of victory. 

81. The northern powers having coalesced to destroy the 
naval superiority of England, admiral Nelson was sent into the 
Bahic, and having made overtures for negociation in vain, he 
attacked and destroyed the Danish fleet at Copenhagen. The 
French renewed their threats of invasion, but the appointment 
of Nelson to the command of the channel-fleet made them 
again lay aside the enterprise as hopeless. 32. The retire- 
ment of Mr. Pitt from the British ministry was the signal for 
commencing negociations. After many delays, a treaty was 
concluded at Amiens on the 10th of October, to the great de- 
light of both nations. 

33. The peace of Amiens had scarcely been signed, 
when it began to appear nothing better than a mere ,or>2 
suspension of arms, and that a new war would soon be 
rekindled by the restless ambition of Napoleon. Shortly after 
the signing of the preliminaries, he procured himself to be 
appointed president of the Cisalpine republic in the north of 
Italy, a proceeding which greatly irritated the Austrian cabinet. 
His attention was next directed to the organization of the Li- 
gurian republic, of which Genoa was declared the capital. He 
also brought about a political reform in Switzerland, and sent 
thirty thousand men into that country to support his ambitious 
projects. The consolidation of his power at home was not 
neglected ; by a concordat concluded with the pope, the Ro- 
man catholic religion was again established in France, and the 
entire ecclesiastical authority lodged in the hands of the first 
consul. Universal liberty of conscience was established for 
all rehgious opinions ; and the emigrant clergy were invited 
to return to their flocks, provided that they would promise 
their support to the established order of things. Flis next 
step towards despotism was to procure himself to be appointed 
consul for hfe ; soon after which he instituted a new order of 
chivalry, called the legion of honour, the members of which 
were chosen from all the public professions indifferently. 

34. St. Domingo, the most beautiful and valuable of the 
French islands in the West Indies, was in a state of frightful 
insurrection; the negroes, under the command of Toussaint 
Louverture, had estabhshed their independence, and the colo- 

Y 



370 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

nists had been either driven out or slain. Leclerc, brother-in- 
law to the consul, was sent to recover the island, and suc- 
ceeded, principally by the treachery of some of the negro- 
chiefs. Toussaint Louverture surrendered in consequence of 
a negociation ; but Leclerc, dreading his influence, had him 
soon after arrested and sent to France, where he died in prison. 
But the French rulers having attempted to re-establish slavery, 
the negroes again broke out into rebellion, and after a fearful 
contest, in which the French lost multitudes of soldiers, the 
insurgents prevailed. St. Domingo was lost to France, and 
the island has ever since continued an independent negro state, 
under the name of Hayti. 

35. One of the conditions of the treaty concluded at 
TSm -A-miens was, that the English should restore the island 

■ of Malta to the knights of St, John ; but being con- 
vinced of the probability of war, they refused to give up a post 
which secured to them the commerce of the Mediterranean. 
On the 16th of May, letters of marque were issued against 
France, and all the French vessels in British harbours were 
seized. Napoleon retaliated by seizing on the persons of all 
the British travellers whom business or pleasure had induced 
to visit the continent ; and these unfortunate persons were de- 
tained as prisoners of war. General Mortier marched against 
Hanover, of which he took possession without resistance ; and 
the mouths of the rivers Elbe and Weser, which formed the 
principal outlets of European commerce, were shut against the 
English. On the other hand, the British navy blockaded the 
ports, and attacked with success the colonies of the enemy, 
while a threatened invasion raised such a spirit of patriotic 
resistance through the island, that the people readily granted 
to the ministry all the supplies of men and money that they 
demanded. 

36. The attention of Europe was fixed upon the 
1S04 projected invasion of England, when two strange events 

' occurred in Paris, that excited universal astonishment 
and indignation. A conspiracy was said to have been dis- 
covered against Buonaparte, at the head of which were 
Pichegru, the conqueror of Holland, George Cadoudal, a Ven- 
dean chief, and Moreau, whose military fame rivalled that of 
Napoleon. The conspirators were arrested, and the gallant 
Pichegru secretly assassinated in prison. A kw days before 
this, the Parisians heard in one breath, that the heir of the 
house of Conde, the duke d'Enghien, had been arrested at 
Ettenheira, a town in the principality of Baden, and tried and 



THE REPUBLIC. 



371 




Death of the Duke d'Enghien. 

executed within sight of their own houses at Vincennes. This 
horrid murder was aggravated by a mock trial, in which every 
form of law and every principle of justice were violated. The 
unhappy prince was arrested in a neutral state, tried for a 
civil offence before a military tribunal, at the hour of midnight, 
when it was against the laws of France to hold any trial ; no 
counsel was allowed for his defence ; the execution took place 
immediately after the sentence, without any time being al- 
lowed for the prince to lodge an appeal, and finally, had even 
all the legal forms been observed, the duke owed no allegiance 
to the government of France. He died with a firmness and 
constancy worthy of his noble birth, and was buried in the 
ditch of the castle of Vincennes. This fatal event is the 
greatest blot on Napoleon's character ; its imprudence was to 
the full as great as its wickedness, for such an act of wanton 
cruelty provoked against him the personal hostility of the Eu- 
ropean sovereigns. The remark of the callous Fouche on the 
subject has passed into a proverb — "It was worse than a 
crime — it was a blunder." 

37. The first consul soon afterwards obtained the object of 
his highest ambition ; he was created by a subservient senate 
emperor of the French, the philosopher and statesman CarnoJ; 
having alone had "the courage to protest against the appoint- 
ment. Thus vanished like a shadow the French republic, the 
establishment of which had been purchased by so many lives. 



372 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

The only important nailitary event in this year was the seizure 
of the Spanish plate-fleet by the English without any forma! 
declaration of war ; this of course produced a close alliance 
between the courts of Paris and Madrid, though there is reason 
to believe that they had been previously united in hostility to 
England. 

38. The conspirators against Buonaparte were brought to 
trial ; George Cadoudal and ten of his associates were exe- 
cuted ; General Moreau was permitted to transport himself to 
America; the remainder were pardoned. Freed thus from 
dangers, Napoleon prepared for the ceremony of his corona- 
tion, and, to the astonishment of all Europe, prevailed on the 
pope to officiate on the occasion. He was crowned emperor 
of the French on the 2d of December, and in the following 
year assumed the title and ensigns of king of Italy at Milan. 

His coronation aa emperor of the French, took place in 
the cathedral of Notre Dame. The capital was throng'ed 
with crowds of visiters from every part of France. The 
people were represented at the ceremony by deputations of 
the presidents of the cantons, the presidents of the electoral 
colleges, and the whole corps of the legislative body, which 
had been convoked in the month of October ; the army, by 
deputations from every regiment. By all these, increased 
to a vast muhitnde of spectators of the highest station in the 
country, the walls of the splendid old cathedral were clothed 
with what a spectator has described as " living tapestry," 
galleries having been erected almost to the roof. The pope 
first left the Tuilleries, and went in procession to the cathe- 
dral, preceded, according to established custom, by his cham- 
berlain on a mule, which novel sight had nearly proved de- 
structive to all solemnity, by exciting the risibility of the 
Parisians ; but the functionary thus humbly mounted pre- 
served his gravity of countenance so admirably, that he 
repressed the fatal sound which had impended. The em- 
peror and empress, in the same open carriage, traversed 
Paris, through a great crowd of spectators, who, it is said, 
looked on the procession rather coldly. They first seated 
themselves with their backs to the horses, by mistake ; and 
though the error was instantly rectified, it was observed, and 
said to be " an evil omen." They, and their whole retinue, 
arrayed themselves in splendid robes in the archbishop's 
palace, and with their long and gorgeous line of courtiers, 
marshals, and dignitaries, in gold and rich colours and waving 
plumes, gained the cathedral by a long gallery, erected for 



THE REPUBLIC. 



373 



the purpose. At the moment the emperor appeared in the 
cathedral, there was one simuhaneous shout, which made 
but one explosion, of " Vive V Empereur !^^ All was per- 
formed in order ; mass was said, and the crown was blessed 
by the pope : but at that point the emperor ceased to be 
submissive. Not even the supreme pontiff himself was per- 
mitted to place the crown upon the head of Napoleon. It 
was placed there by his own hand ; immediately removed ; 
and again, by his own hand, placed on the head of Josephine ; 
then laid on the cushion, where it had rested before. " This 
scene," says Norvins, " is a scene of yesterday ; yet it 
belongs not to our age. We can scarcely believe ourselves 
the contemporaries of events so strange and so unlike our 
time." 




Napoleon crowning Josephine. 



374 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Napoleon. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE EMPIRE. 

When Europe bowed beneath the yoke, 
And Austria bent and Prussia broke. 

Scott. 

1. The murder of the duke d'Enghien facilitated 

i'qV^' ^^^ formation of a coalition between the cabinets of 

Petersburgh, Stockholm, and London, against France. 

It was not, however, until after the delay of some months, that 

Austria and Prussia could be prevailed upon to unite with the 



THE EMPIRE. 375 

Other allies for maintaining the independence of Europe ; and 
the indecision of the latter power prevented her from sharing 
in the contest. 2. From the extreme of sloth, the Austrian 
government, irritated by the news of the usurpations of the 
French in Italy, suddenly passed into the opposite and more 
dangerous one of inconsiderate rashness. Without waiting 
for the Russian troops, or even securing the co-operation of 
Prussia, the Austrian emperor commenceu the war. 3. His 
first proceeding was almost as tyrannical as any of vi^hich he 
complained on the part of the French. The elector of Bava- 
ria having a son travelling in France, was anxious to remain 
neutral, and submissively entreated the German emperor to 
grant him permission to do so ; his request was not only re- 
fused, but he was ordered forthwith to incorporate his forces 
with the Austrians, and place his soldiers under their chiefs. 
This was of course refused. The Austrians poured their 
forces into Bavaria, and acted as if they were in an enemy's 
country, while the elector retired into Franconia, and anxiously 
awaited the arrival of the French as his deliverers. 

4. The army which Napoleon had designed for the inva- 
sion of England, immediately was ordered to march on the 
German frontier, while Massena was directed to commence 
offensive operations, and penetrate, if possible, into the here- 
ditary dominions of Austria, 5. On both sides the French 
were pre-eminently successful ; Mack, the Austrian general, 
after a series of blundering operations which completely proved 
his incapacity, shut himself up in Ulm with 20,000 men, and 
surrendered the town on the 17th of October, under circum- 
stances that show he was not only a coward but a traitor. Mas- 
sena defeated the Austrians in Italy, and Napoleon was con- 
sequently enabled to make himself master of Vienna without 
any opposition. But Austria had still some chances in her 
favour; the Russian emperor had at length brought up his 
forces, and the two armies were concentrated in Moravia. 6. 
Napoleon, with a precipitancy that might have cost him dear, 
passed the Danube, and after a series of manoeuvres, in which 
the allies showed but little skill, the two armies met on the 
second of December, to decide for a time the destinies of 
Europe, on the plains of Austerlitz. The Russians having 
incautiously too much extended their line. Napoleon poured a 
force through the gap which completely severed that wing 
from the centre ; the centre itself was soon broken by the 
French cavalry under Murat, and the right wing of the allies, 
which for a moment had held the fate of the day in suspense, 



376 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Napoleon on the Evening before the Battle of Austerlitz. 



was overwhelmed by masses of superior force. A great num- 
ber endeavoured to make good their retreat over some frozen 
lakes, but the French broke the ice about them with a storm 
of shot, and more than 20,000 were either drowned or swept 
away by the artillery. 7. The fate of the continent was de- 
cided : the Austrian and Russian emperors were obliged to 
accept peace on any terms that the conqueror pleased to dic- 
tate. The Germanic constitution* was dissolved, and a new 
connection formed between the states, called the Cojifederation 
of the Rhine, with Napoleon at its head, under the title of 
Protector. The electors of Bavaria and Wirtemberg were 
created kings ; Murat became grand-duke of Berg, and Louis, 
the brother of Napoleon, was named king of Holland. 

8. But before the battle of Austerlitz was fought, France 
sustained a signal defeat in another quarter, which almost bal- 
anced that victory. The combined fleets of France and Spain 
were almost annihilated at Trafalgar by the Enghsh under lord 
Nelson, who fell in the midst of his triumph. Napoleon on 
his return to France completed his abolition of that republic 
which had cost France so dear, by distributing titles and dig- 

* The Germanic, or, as it was in diplomatic style termed, the Holy 
Roman Empire, wliich was thus dissolved, had lasted one thousand 
and six years, reckoning from the time when Charlemagne had re- 
ceived the imperial crown from pope Leo III. 



THE EMPIRE. 377 

nilies to the generals who had shared in the glories of this 
brilliant campaign, 

9. Unawed by the calamitous defeat of Austria, and 
untaught by a knowledge of the errors which had ^ona 
caused these disasters, Prussia rushed heedlessly into 
war with the French, and committed over again the same 
faults that led to the ruin of the emperor. After some alter- 
cations in notes and manifestos, the Prussian army marched 
into Saxony, and treated the country as Bavaria had been 
treated by the Austrians in the preceding year. 10. Napoleon 
saw and took advantage of their error; by an unexpected 
movement, he turned the right wing of his opponents, seized 
and blew up their magazines, and placed his army between 
the Prussians and their resources. The explosion ^ ^^ 
of his magazines first made the rash king aware of 
the extent of his danger ; his attempts to extricate himself 
brought on the battle of Jena, in which the Prussians were 
defeated, and their cause irretrievably ruined. 11. The con- 
sequences of this memorable battle were still more disastrous, 
the different corps of the Prussian army were obliged to lay 
down their arms in succession ; the fortresses were surren- 
dered after a very inefficacious resistance, either by the cow- 
ardice or treachery of their governors. Blucher, who alone 
of all the Prussian leaders had exhibited any courage or mih- 
tary skill, was forced, after a brilliant retreat, to surrender, and 
the king of Prussia having abandoned his capital, was com- 
pelled to take refuge in Konigsberg with the shattered remains 
of his forces. Thus within the brief space of a month was 
the fabric of the Prussian power, which the abilities of the 
great Frederic had erected, totally, and to all appearance, 
remedilessly destroyed. 

12. The emperor of Russia now ordered his forces 
to unite with the remnant of the Prussian army, but -jorj-i^ 
the French maintained their superiority until the seve- 
rity of winter compelled both armies to lay aside hostilities for 
a brief period. 13. In the latter end of January, the Prus- 
sians having received some reinforcements, resumed the offen- 
sive, and on the 8th of February was fought the bloody battle 
of Eyiau. After a horrible scene of carnage, night separated 
the combatants, and the victory remained undecided. For 
some time after both armies remained inactive, but during the 
interval, the French made themselves masters of Dantzic. At 
length, on the 14th of June, the decisive battle of Friedland 
was fouo-ht; the Russians maintained the combat with distin- 
32* 



378 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

guished bravery, and retreated in good order. 14. But the 
consequences of the battle were as great as those of the most 
brilliant victory ; the emperor of Russia concluded an armis- 
tice, and on the 25th of June had a personal interview with 
Napoleon at Tilsit, where a treaty of peace was negociated. 
The king of Prussia was stripped of half his dominions, and 
was given to understand that he owed the preservation of the 
remainder to the friendly intercession of Russia. The cruel 
and contumelious treatment of the unhappy monarch produced 
such an effect on his high-spirited and lovely consort, that she 
died of a broken heart. 

15. Napoleon had issued from Berlin those celebrated de- 
crees which forbade the introduction of British manufactures 
on the continent; he confirmed them anew at Tilsit, and took 
the most vigorous means to shut out England from all com- 
mercial intercourse with the rest of Europe. But this was 
an enterprise in which it was impossible for him to succeed ; 
long habit had made British manufactures and colonial pro- 
duce necessaries of life ; they continued to be surreptitiously 
introduced, with the connivance of the French allies, and even 
of Buonaparte's brother; while the vexatious tyranny of the 
custom-house officers produced a deep and popular resent- 
ment, whose effects were severely felt in the sequel. 

16. The king of Sweden had engaged in the war as an 
ally of Prussia, but after the treaty of Tilsit he was forced to 
retire before the superior power of the French, and a resolu- 
tion was taken to deprive him of his crown. 

17. The situation of Denmark was at this time in the 
highest degree embarrassing, for it was evident that its govern- 
ment could not, even if they were inclined, prevent their fleet 
from being seized upon by the French emperor, and made 
subservient to his purposes. The British cabinet, which up 
to this period seemed to have resigned all concern for the 
safety of the country, suddenly acted with a promptitude and 
decision that formed a powerful contrast to its previous tor- 
pidity : a fleet consisting of twenty-seven sail of the line, and 
having on board a respectable body of land-forces under the 
command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, was sent to enforce the 
surrender of the Danish fleet, not as possessions, but as 
pledges to be restored at the conclusion of a general peace. 
18. The cabinet of Denmark at first refused to comply, but 
the bombardment of Copenhagen terrified them into submis- 
sion, they unwillingly surrendered their ships, and imme- 
diately after declared war against England. The seizing of 



THE EMPIRE. 379 

the Danish fleet was undoubtedly a strong measure, but it 
seems to be justified by the circumstances of the time. 

19. The period immediately following the peace of Tilsit 
was the happiest time of the French empire ; the publication 
of that admirable code of laws, justly styled the code Napoleon^ 
at once raised the legal system of France from the very worst 
to one of the best in Europe ; the erection of splendid bridges 
and aqueducts improved the state of the country, roads and 
canals were constructed with more skill than had been hitherto 
witnessed on the continent, and the vanity of the Parisians 
was gratified by the erection of some magnificent pubhc 
buildings, and by the adornment of their galleries with pic- 
tures and statues extorted from conquered states. The strict- 
ness of the police and the fear of the mihtary conscription 
were the only severities of despotism that the French ex- 
perienced ; but these, and especially the latter, were serious 
evils. 

20. We are now approaching the transaction, whose per- 
fidious commencement and fatal termination should for ever 
be a lesson to statesmen and princes, that treachery invariably 
brings its own punishment. Spain was at this time governed 
by a court, whose criminahty can scarcely be paralleled in 
the annals of infamy. Charles, its sovereign, was a weak 
ignorant man, whose imbecility bordered on idiotcy ; the 
queen lived in the open practice of the most revolting de- 
bauchery ; Godoy, her paramour, whom she had raised from 
the rank of a private soldier to the title of Prince of the Peace, 
was a compound of ignorance and vanity, with every incHna- 
tion, but not with sufficient abilities, to attain eminence by the 
most iniquitous means. Ferdinand, prince of Asturias, the 
heir apparent, united in an eminent degree his mother's per- 
fidy with his father's folly, and was at the same time openly 
hostile to both his parents. 21. With this court Napoleon 
negociated a treaty for depriving England of her commerce 
with Portugal, and sent an army under Junot to enforce 
obedience to his imperious edicts. The prince regent of 
Portugal endeavoured to purchase security by an inglorious 
submission, but at the same time unwilling to commit an act 
of gross injustice to his oldest and most faithful allies, he gave 
the English merchants early notice to make their escape with 
all the property that they could collect, before he published in 
bis dominions the Berlin decrees, which commanded the for- 
feiture of all British manufactures. 23. This submission did 
rot satisfy Napoleon ; he published in the French official paper 



380 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

that the house of Braganza had ceased to reign ; the prince 
regent had then no other means left to escape a prison but to 
take refuge on board the English fleet, by which he was 
escorted to the Brazilian dominions of Portugal in South 
America. 

^ ^ 23. The occurrences which enabled Napoleon to 
1808 ^^'^^ °" ^^^ persons of the Spanish royal family are 
' still involved in great mystery ; a conspiracy was said 
to have been formed by the prince of Asturias ; soon after the 
king of Spain and Godoy resolved to quit the kingdom and 
settle in South America ; the news of this caused a popular 
insurrection, which terminated in the resignation of Charles 
and the quiet accession of Ferdinand. While men were won- 
dering how all this would end, Charles published a proclama- 
tion, asserting that his resignation was an involuntary act, and 
claiming the assistance of his French ally for the recovery of 
his crown. 24. By the most consummate arts. Napoleon suc- 
ceeded in persuading all the parties to refer the disputes to his 
decision, and to come and meet him at Bayonne for the pur- 
pose. The wretched dupes crossed the frontier, and when 
they were irrevocably in the power of the emperor, were in- 
formed that the Bourbon family should no longer govern Spain, 
and that its crown was transferred to Joseph Buonaparte, who 
had been hitherto the nominal king of Naples. 

25. When the news of this unparalleled treachery was spread 
through Spain, it produced the most violent effect on that fierce 
and haughty nation ; the populace everywhere rose and com- 
mitted furious excesses on the partizans of Godoy and Napo- 
leon, which the French, and especially xMurat, who commanded 
at Madrid, fearfully retaliated. The Spaniards in every quarter 
erected provincial juntas to administer the affairs of govern- 
ment, and raised numerous armies under the command of dif- 
ferent leaders, but want of skill and unity made their labours 
ineffectual. The English nation deeply sympathised in the 
Spanish struggle for independence ; the deputies from that na- 
tion were received in the most friendly manner, the prisoners 
were restored, supplies of arms and money forwarded to the 
peninsula, and a treaty concluded with the "leaders of the in- 
surrection both in Spain and Portugal. 26. The patriots 
being raw and inexperienced troops at first suffered several de- 
feats, but at length general Dupont was forced to surrender 
with 20,000 men to the Spaniards under the command of Cas- 
tanos, and the French besiegers of Zaragossa were foiled in 
their attack on this unfortified city by Palafox, a young noble- 
man of romantic bravery. 



THE EMPIRE. 381 

27. At length an expedition was sent from Britain to aid in 
the expulsion of the French from the peninsula ; it was com- 
manded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, already distinguished by 
his victories in India and Denmark. On the 8th of August, 
a landing was effected in the bay of Mondego ; on the 17th, 
the French, under general Laborde, were defeated near Roviga, 
and on the 21st, a still more decisive victory was obtained over 
Junot, at Vimiera. 28. But after having obtained such bril- 
liant success, the Enghsh general had the mortification to find 
himself deprived of the supreme command by the arrival of 
Sir Henry Burrard, and afterwards of Sir Hew Dalrymple, 
older but less skilful generals. General Dalrymple concluded 
the celebrated convention of Cintra with the French general, 
by which the fruits of Wellesley's brilliant victories vi^ere lost, 
and the French permitted to retire with the plunder of Portugal. 

29. The news of the successes obtained by the insurgents 
in Spain, and the British in Portugal, convinced Napoleon that 
his presence was necessary to secure the fruits of his perfidy. 
With his characteristic rapidity, he crossed the Pyrennees ac- 
companied by a brilliant army, and immediately commenced 
a series of operations which the unskilful Spaniards were 
unable to resist. The generals of the patriots could never be 
induced to act in concert, they were consequently overpowered 
in detail, and the Enghsh general. Sir John Moore, who had 
advanced to their assistance, was forced to retreat towards Co- 
runna. 30. The greater part of Spain was thus again sub- 
jected to its new king, Joseph, who was, however, nothing 
more than his brother's deputy ; and Buonaparte having for 
once seen a British army retreating before him, returned to 
Paris. Marshal Soult hung close on the rear of the English 
army during their disastrous retreat, until at length Sir ^ ^ 
John Moore perceived that it was impossible to em- ^Agg 
bark without either a convention or a battle. He did 
not hesitate in his choice ; on the 19th of January, he attacked 
the French with so much vigour that they were compelled to 
retreat. The British were consequently permitted to embark 
without molestation, but their heroic comtnander had fallen in 
the arms of victory. He was buried at night on the field of 
battle. 



382 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



The following beautiful monody on the death of Sir John Moore, 
by the Rev. Charles Wolfe, presents a most graphic description 
of his funeral. 

BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE. 

Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note, 

As his course to the ramparts we hurried ; 
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 

O'er the grave where our hero we buried 
We buried him darkly at dead of night, 

The turf with our bayonets turning, 
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, 

And the lanterns dimly burning. 

Few and short were the prayers we said, 

And we spoke not a word of sorrow ; 
But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead. 

And we bitterly thought on the morrow. 
No useless coffin confined his breast ; 

Nor in sheet nor in shroud we bound him — 
But he lay, like a warrior taking his rest, 

With his martial cloak around him. 

We thought as we heap'd his narrow bed, 

And smooth'd down his lonely pillow. 
That the foe or the stranger would tread o'er his head, 

And we far away on the billow. 
Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone. 

And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him — 
But nothing he'll reck, if they let him sleep on 

In a grave were a Briton has laid him ! 

But half our weary task was done. 

When the clock told the hour for retiring ; 
And we heard by the distant and random gun. 

That the foe was suddenly firing. 
Slowly and sadly we laid him down, 

From the field of his fame fresh and gory— 
We carved not a line, we raised not a stone. 

But we left him alone with his glory ! 



THE EMPIRE. 



383 




The Retreat from Moscow. 



CHAPTER XL. 



THE EMPIRE, CONTINUED. 

The feign'd retreat, the nightly ambuscade, 

The daily harass, and the fight delay'd, 

The long privation of the hoped supply, 

The tentless rest beneath a frozen sky. 

The stubborn wall that mocks the leaguer's art, 

And palls the patience of his bafSed heart, 

Of these they had not dream'd. 

BxHoir. 

I. We mentioned in the last chapter that Napoleon 
returned from Spain without completing, as he in- lo'rjq 
tended, and probably might have accomplished, the 
entire subjugation of that country. The cause of this change 
in his plans was the news that reached him of the probability 
of a new war with Austria, which still smarted under the de- 
gradation of its late defeat, and was eager to retrieve the 
power and possessions of which it had been deprived. The 
war was begun and ended in one campaign ; it was com- 



384 HISTORY OF FRAiNCE. 

menced without the form of a declaration, and the combatants 
exhausted all the wiles of diplomacy to throw on each other 
the blame of the first aggression. The Austrians began as 
before by invading Bavaria, and taking possession of Munich, 
which the king was obhged to abandon at their approach. 
2. But Napoleon's arrival changed the face of things. With- 
out delaying at Paris, he hurried from Spain to Germany, and 
by his superior skill was enabled to attack the divisions of the 
Austrian army separately, and beat them in detail. Finally, 
the battle of Wagram, fought almost under the walls of 
Vienna, completely broke up the Austrian power, and left the 
country and its sovereign at the mercy of Napoleon.* 

3. It was naturally to be expected that the temerity of the 
Austrian emperor would be punished by his deposition, but to 
the surprise of all Europe, the terms on which peace was con- 
ceded were far from being severe, and some persons began to 
speak of the moderation of Buonaparte ! The secret of this 
leniency and of the protracted negociations at Schoenbrunn, 
the palace of the Austrian emperor near Vienna, will be ex- 
plained in the sequel. 

4. In the Peninsula, Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had been 
again sent out to take the command, expelled the French from 
Portugal, and having pursued them into Spain, obtained a 
glorious victory at Talavera on the 28th of July.t But being 

* Throughout the entire of Germany, a determined spirit of popu- 
lar resistance was manifested against the French; colonel Schill, 
though wholly unauthorized hy his government, raised a small but 
gallant army in Prussia; the duke of Brunswick at the head of a 
few faithful followers, became formidable in the north of Germany, 
and Hofer at the head of the Tyrolese peasantry, emulated the ex- 
ploits of the Swiss mountaineers in the middle ages. But the total 
defeat of the Austrians made all their exertions ineffectual. Schill 
perished in a sortie from Stralsund ; the duke of Brunswick, with 
difficulty, escaped on board the English fleet; and the Tyrolese 
patriots, ungratefully deserted by the Austrian government, were 
given up to the vengeance of the French, who treated them not as 
enemies but as rebels. Hofer was shot as a traitor : he died with 
firmness worthy of the cause which he had supported. 

f The British government, instead of sending out forces sufficient 
to expel the French from the Peninsula, which at that time they 
might have done, dispatched an expedition to the coast of Flanders, 
under the command of the earl of Chatham, an old and incompetent 
general. They obtained possession of Flushing, but there their suc- 
cess terminated. The judicious measures of Bernadotte prevented 
their farther advance, the unwholesome marshes of Walcheren pro- 



THE EMPIRE. 385 

unable to resist the united forces of the French he was obliged 
to retire within the Portuguese frontier. The Spanish armies 
were every where beaten, but the country was no where sub- 
dued ; the straggling soldiers and peasantry formed them- 
selves into small bands called guerillas, which cut off the 
French convoys, massacred the stragglers, and left no part of 
the country subject to their sway, except that actually occu- 
pied by their military posts. 

5. In the north of Europe a strange revolution took place ; 
Gustavus Adolphus IV., king of Sweden, had engaged in a 
war with Russia, to w^hich his resources were wholly inade- 
quate ; in consequence, he was deprived of the province of 
Finland, and this loss so irritated the Swedish nation, that they 
at once deposed their sovereign, excluded his children from 
the succession, and elected the duke of Sundermania, the uncle 
of Gustavus, first regent, and afterwards king. 

6. In the south the pope was stripped of his dominions, 
and sent a prisoner to France ; an event which some years 
before would have set the whole south of Europe in a flame, 
but which, on the present occasion, only produced secret hos- 
tility and a concealed desire of vengeance. 

7. The secret of the negociations at Schoenbrunn 

was at last discovered, and it surprised all Europe, lo-tn 
Napoleon, seeing that Josephine was childless, and 
anxious to strengthen his power by an alliance with the old 
royal families of Europe, had resolved on divorcing this faith- 
ful companion, and in some degree the principal cause of his 
fortunes, in order to marry the archduchess Maria Louisa, 
daughter to the emperor of Austria. 8. The marriage was 
celebrated with extraordinary splendour, and was at the time 
looked upon as the greatest security to the throne of the 
French emperor. But in reality it weakened the foundation 
of Napoleon's power, for it blighted the hopes which some of 
the French marshals must have nourished, and it irritated all 
those attached to revolutionary principles throughout Europe, 
who looked on the reigning house of Austria as the worst 
enemies to the freedom and happiness of the human race. 

9. The annals of the peninsular war, carried on with con- 
summate skill by Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had been created 



duced a fever almost as fatal as a plague, and at length, having 
suffered immense loss, the inglorious expedition returned to Eng- 
land, after an useless sacrifice of human life, which ought never to 
be remembered without shame and sorrow. 

33 Z 



386 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Lord Wellington, belong to the history of England rather than 
that of France ; suffice it to say, that notwithstanding some 
brilliant victories, the English general was compelled to retreat 
into Portugal before the superior forces of Massena. The 
Portuguese destroyed every thing that could afford shelter or 
sustenance to the invading army, and Wellington having 
placed his army in the impregnable lines of Torres Vedras, 
which covered Lisbon, quietly waited the time when famine 
would compel Massena to retire. 

10. Louis Buonaparte, king of Holland, had displeased his 
imperial brother, by conniving at the importation of English 
merchandise ; he was therefore deprived of his dominions, 
which, together with the old Hansealic territories, were united 
to France. IL This new insult to northern Germany was 
allowed to pass without remonstrance ; Prussia was too much 
weakened by recent misfortunes, and Sweden had lately cho- 
sen for its sovereign a general of France. The prince of 
Augustenburgh, who had been recognised as heir to Charles 
XIIL (duke of Sundermania), died suddenly, and the diet 
chose as his successor Charles John Bernadotte, a French 
general distinguished above his compeers for honourable and 
humane conduct. They probably designed by this choice to 
conciliate the favour of Napoleon, but to him the choice was 
far from being agreeable, for he was jealous of Bernadotte, 
whose fame had been established before Buonaparte had been 
placed at the head of affairs. 

12. The birth of a son seemed to make the happi- 
Iftll "^^^ °^ Napoleon complete ; he was immediately pro- 
* claimed successor to the empire, with the title " king 
of Rome," and all the vassal sovereigns of Europe sent am- 
bassadors to congratulate the emperor on this event. Even 
the degraded royal family of Spain had the meanness to join in 
this act of homage, thus showing that they almost merited their 
fate by succumbing to the author of their ruin. 13. But 
amid all his pomp and power. Napoleon could not but discern 
the signs of an approaching storm ; the diplomatic intercourse 
with Russia had begun to assume a very angry character ; 
the Enghsh had completed the conquest of all the French and 
Dutch colonies in the east, the Spanish guerilla warfare was 
continued with unceasing pertinacity, and Massena was forced 
to retreat from Portugal. The military skill displayed by 
Massena in this retreat has been always praised, but the abo- 
minable atrocities committed by the French soldiery, and 
sanctioned by their commander, will be remembered with 



THE EMPIRE. 387 

horror to the latest posterity. Lust, rapine, and cruelty per- 
petrated every crime that such diabolical passions could prompt 
and ferocious violence execute ; Portugal remained free, but 
it remained a desert. 

14. The emperor of Russia had foreseen from the 
moment of the Austrian alliance, that it would be -loio* 
scarcely possible for him to avoid hostilities with 
France ; the necessities of his country had compelled him to 
relax the severity of the Berlin decrees, and connive at a com- 
mercial intercourse with England; and he well knew that to 
thwart Napoleon's favourite project of excluding British manu- 
factures from the continent, was the surest means of provoking 
his inveterate hatred. All the statesmen who had in early 
times possessed the confidence of Napoleon, had remonstrated 
in vain against a war with Russia; Talleyrand, Fouche, and 
his uncle, cardinal Fesch, tried their influence with the em- 
peror in vain ; confident in his resources and his fortune, he 
mocked at their forebodings, and acted as if victory was al- 
ready secure. 15. It must be confessed that the inilitary 
power then possessed by the French emperor in some degree 
rendered his confidence excusable ; he had a disposable force 
exceeding half a million of men, a greater number than had 
ever been commanded by any European sovereign, and far 
exceeding any that the limited resources of Russia would 
allow her to bring into the field ; his soldiers were accustomed 
to triumph, his generals had proved their courage and conduct 
in many glorious fields, and all the states of the European con- 
tinent, save Russia itself and the Peninsula, were his tributa- 
ries and auxiliaries. Swedish Pomerania and the island of 
Rugen were occupied by the French troops early in January, 
probably because Napoleon had reason to suspect the designs 
of Bernadotte ; soon after, a treaty was concluded with Prus- 
sia, by which that power, much against its will, was obliged 
to assist the French with 20,000 men ; Austria had previously 
agreed to send 30,000 under prince Schwartzenberg. 

16. On the 16th of May, Napoleon arrived at Dresden, 
where the emperor of Austria, the kings of Prussia, Naples, 
Wirtemberg, and Westphalia, together with all the minor po- 
tentates of Germany, had been ordered to meet him. Having 
figured there for some time as the undisputed king of kings, 
he broke up his court, sent back the empress to France as re- 
gent, and proceeded to Dantzic, where negociations were con- 
tinued for a fortnight longer. 

17. On the 22d of June, Napoleon published a declaratioa 



388 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

of war, whose proud and confident tone was powerfully con- 
trasted with the modest and affectionate address to his subjects, 
which Alexander pubhshed in reply. Before commencing 
the Russian campaign, we shall just take a glance at the 
events that occurred during this year at the Peninsula. 18. 
Early in spring,.Wellington made himself master of the strong 
fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, and Badajoz. He then followed 
Marmont to Salamanca, where he defeated the French army, 
on the 22d of July, with immense loss. In consequence of 
tills victory, the English army were enabled to march upon 
Madrid, in the confident expectation that such brilliant exploits 
would rouse the whole Spanish nation to one simultaneous ex- 
ertion. But the pride and bigotry of the Spaniards took fire 
at the idea of submitting to an Englishman, the French were 
permitted to concentrate their forces, which more than doubled 
the number of the Enghsh, and Wellington leisurely retired 
with his troops to the frontiers of Portugal. 

19. The Poles had anxiously hoped" that Napoleon would 
have restored their independence, but his connection with Aus- 
tria prevented him from performing an act of justice so advan- 
tageous to his interests ; had he done so, the enthusiasm of a 
nation eager to regain its freedom might probably have changed 
the event of the war. But this golden opportunity was lost, 
and the Poles, who hated the Austrians at least as much as 
the Russians, viewed the contest with sullen indifference. 

20. Warned by the fatal examples of Austria and Prussia, 
the Russians resolved to imitate the line of conduct which 
Welhngton, with such brilliant success, had pursued in Por- 
tugal ; they retreated before the enormous masses of the invad- 
ing army, deliberately destroying their magazines, and laying 
waste the country. The first design of Napoleon was to 
march directly on St. Petersburg, and in his way seize the 
Russian fleet at Cronstadt ; but the obstinate defence of Riga, 
the garrison of which was strengthened by the sailors of the 
English fleet, compelled him to change his plan, and advance 
in the direction of Moscow. The Russians retired before the 
advancing army, fighting wherever a favourable opportunity 

^ was afforded, but not venturing to hazard a regular engage- 

ment. On the 16th of August, the French arrived before 
Smolensko, which the Russians seemed at first determined to 
defend ; three times was the place assaulted, and as often were 
the French repelled, but during the night the garrison set fire 
to the town, which was almost totally consumed, and retreated 
to the army beyond the river. 



THE EMPIRE. 389 

21. It became now extremely difficult to persuade the Rus- 
sian soldiers to continue their retreat ; they were eager to take 
vengeance on the invaders of their country, and there was 
some reason to dread that checking their enthusiasm would be 
attended with fatal consequences. At the same time, also, 
Barclay de Tolly, who had hitherto held the supreme com- 
mand, was appointed to the war-ministry at St. Petersburg, 
and the veteran KutusofF, the darling of the Russian soldiers, 
sent to the army in his room. A strong position between Bo- 
rodino and Moskwa, on the high road to Moscow, was at length 
selected by the Russian general, and there he resolved to gratify 
his troops by giving them an opportunity of meeting their in- 
vaders. 22. After some preliminary skirmishing, a dreadful 
battle was fought on the 7th of September, which lasted the 
entire day. The Russians fought with unparalleled despera- 
tion ; peasants, that until that day had never seen a hostile 
array, rushed like furies on the disciplined battahons of the 
French ; as they fell before the unbroken lines, others rushed 
to supply their places, and seemed eager in pursuit of death. 
At the close of the day the French gave over their attacks ; 
both sides claimed the victory, but though no less than 80,000 
men lay dead on the field, neither could claim a triumph. 
When the subordinate generals had presented Kutusoff with 
their reports of the state of their several divisions, he saw that 
from the extent of his losses it would be inexpedient to risk 
another engagement, he accordingly retired slowly, leaving the 
road to Moscow open to the enemy. 23. Shortly after, it was 
resolved not to attempt any defence of that capital, which the 
Russians venerated as the Jews did Jerusalem, or the Mahom- 
medans Mecca; its garrison, accompanied by the principal in- 
habitants, withdrew from the devoted city in mournful silence. 

24. On the 14th of September the French army came with- 
in sight of Moscow, and were surprised that no civic deputa- 
tion appeared to present them with the keys of the city ; this 
was explained when they had effected an entrance, for they 
found that all, except the very lowest of the population, had 
deserted their habitations. The French army dispersed them- 
selves in plundering parties, and as usual committed frightful 
excesses. During the night the town was found to be on fire, 
but the flames were got under, and Napoleon prepared to take 
measures for the government of the city. 25. But on the 
following night a dreadful conflagration burst forth, Russian 
emissaries had disposed combustibles in several places ; the 
water-pipes were cut and rendered useless, the fires broke out 
33* 



390 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

in parts the most distant, and it soon became evident that no- 
thing could save Moscow from the fate of Smolensko. During 
four days the city continued to burn with unabated violence, 
until four-fifths of the houses were totally consumed. 26. 
Napoleon, who saw his army thus deprived of all chance of 
winter-quarters, and exposed at once to the severities of cold 
and famine, attempted to negociate with the Russian govern- 
ment, but had the mortification to find that all his advances 
were rejected. However, he still continued to linger at Mos- 
cow, though dangers were aggregating around him with fear- 
ful rapidity, until at length the defeat of Murat roused him 
from his lethargy, and he resolved to retreat towards Poland 
by a route different from that by which he had advanced. 
Moscow was totally evacuated on the 22d of October; multi- 
tudes of sick and wounded were left to the mercy of the Rus- 
sians, and yet the French army was encumbered with thou- 
sands of waggons laden with the plunder of the city. 

27. Kutusoff seems to have divined the intentions of Na- 
poleon, and baffled them by taking up a strong position on the 
line of march. The French advanced to Malo-Yaraslevetz, a 
town in front of the Russian position, and took possession of it 
without resistance ; but that night they were assaulted by the 
enemy and driven beyond the river. The next day was spent 
in a succession of obstinate contests, during which the town 
five times changed masters. Finally the French prevailed, 
but their victory was useless, for they found the position of 
the Russian army impregnable. Some precious time was 
wasted in vain attempts to force a passage, but they were un- 
avaihng, and the Russian army which had occupied Moscow, 
began now to send out its Cossacks, who severely harassed 
the French rear. It became manifest that the retreat of the 
army must be continued through the country which their ad- 
vance had exhausted. 28. On the 28ih of October the cala- 
mitous march began, and at every step they met some new 
disasters ; the Cossacks, under their Hetman, Platoff, hovered 
around the army, breaking down the bridges before them, 
charging the rear at every opportunity, cutting off stragglers, 
and intercepting straggling parlies ; the army of Kutusoff was 
moving in a line parallel to the route of the French, while two 
other Russian divisions pressed upon the rear. On the 6lh of 
November a new enemy appeared ; a Russian winter of un- 
paralleled severity set in with all its horrors. The train of 
artillery, and the waggons which had been brought from Mos- 
cow were abandoned, the horses, badly fed, were unable to 



THE EMPIRE. 391 

support the cold and fatigue, they sank and stiffened by thou- 
sands ; all discipline was banished except from a few battalions 
kept together to protect the rear by the personal exertions of 
marshal Ney ; the rest dispersed themselves over the fields, 
and many sunk to rise no more ; others were swept away by 
the Cossacks. 29. In this deplorable plight they reached 
Smolensko, where they hoped to find some respite from their 
woes, but that town had been, as we have seen, almost de- 
stroyed by the Russians ; its roofless houses and blackened 
walls afforded but little shelter, its exhausted magazines sup- 
plied no food. The retreat was continued, but the Russians 
now made several desperate assaults on the different French 
divisions, and every where defeated them. Ney, however, 
managed to preserve the shattered remnant of his battalions, 
by passing over the thin ice that had just formed on the 
Dnieper ; the waggons containing the wounded attempted 
to pass over this frail bridge, but the ice broke, and the wag- 
gons sunk amid the shrieks of the wretched sufferers, and the 
groans of their helpless comrades. 

30. The grand army, which had mustered 120,000 men 
when leaving Moscow, hardly exceeded a tenth of that num- 
ber when it was joined by the divisions of Victor and Oudinot, 
who, though defeated by Wittgenstein, still mustered about 
50,000 men. Had the Russians taken advantage of their vast 
superiority, and poured their united forces on the retreating 
army, a messenger would not have escaped to convey the 
news of their ruin to France. 31. The passage of the Bere- 
sina was one of the most fearful scenes in this series of horrors 
though the Russians, by the most culpable negligence, did not 
avail themselves of the opportunity of preventing it altogether. 
The divisions of Wittgenstein and Platoff arrived on the 
heights commanding the rear, before the army had completed 
its passage. When the Russian cannon opened on the crowd 
assembled on the bank, eager to place the river between them- 
selves and the enemy, it produced a scene of indescribable 
confusion. Men, women, horses, waggons, rushed in one 
mass to the larger bridge ; the weight was too great for its 
frail timbers, it broke, and the multitude were at once precipi- 
tated into the half-frozen stream. The universal shriek which 
announced this calamity was heard loud and clear above the 
roar of artillery and the hurrahs of the Cossacks. The re- 
maining bridge stood firm, but the crowd thai hurried over its 
narrow planks under the dreadful fire of the Russian artillery 
fell into the stream by hundreds, swept away by ihe fierce 



392 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

shower of shot, or thrown over by their comrades.* Victor, 
who had gallantly maintained his post, led his division over 
the bridge by night and then set it on fire, abandoning to their 
fate his wounded soldiers, and the attendants of the camp. 

32. The remainder of the retreat was equally disastrous ; 
entire companies were frozen to death, or cut off by the inde- 
fatigable Cossacks, who, as their leader observed, " killed 
many, but made kw prisoners." It is, however, painful to 
dwell on these horrors, of which the most vivid description 
would convey but a faint idea. On the 5th of December, 
Napoleon having learned that a conspiracy for the subversion 
of his government had been formed in France itself, hastily 
abandoned his army, and having narrowly escaped being 
made prisoner, arrived at Warsaw, from whence he proceeded 
to Paris. 

33. The French were driven from Poland by the Cossacks, 
and at length the miserable remains of this mighty host took 
shelter in the dominions of Prussia, where they were hospita- 
bly received by the inhabitants, who generously forgot the 
oppression to which they had been subjected, when they saw 
the miserable state towhich their oppressors had been reduced. 

34. The losses of the French in this disastrous campaign 
have been variously estimated ; but the following list will be 
found tolerably accurate. Of the invading army there were 

Slain in battle ....... 125,000 

Died of fatigue, famine, and cold . 132,000 
Taken prisoners 193,000 

Totalloss 450,000 

Among the prisoners were forty-eight generals, and nearly 
three thousand regimental officers. The Russians captured 
also seventy-five eagles and standards, together with nearly 
a thousand pieces of cannon. 

The following extract from a recent writer, exhibits a 
curious picture of the state of affairs in Paris on the approach 
of the allied army to that city. " The Parisians, as was 
the case during the wars of the league, shut their eyes to 
the impending danger. Even when the cannon of the allied 
array were within hearing, the mass of the people felt little 

• The Russians declare that when the ice of the Beresina broke 
up in the following year, 36,000 dead bodies were discovered in the 
bed of the river. 



THE EMPIRE. 393 

alarm, so totally ignorant were they of the number of the 
enemy, and so entirely confident in the " fortune" of their 
emperor, who, they doubted not, would soon surround the 
invaders, and take them all prisoners. As some excuse for 
this blind folly, it ought to be added that every thing was 
done on the part of the government to encourage the delu- 
sion of the people. The number of the enemy was repre- 
sented as being only thirty or forty thousand, and the news- 
papers, which were all under the direction of the govern- 
ment, propagated the most barefaced falsehoods. Defeats 
were passed over, and every trifling advantage was magni- 
fied into a great victory. To favour this deceit, every 
prisoner of war that could be mustered was paraded with 
great ceremony through Paris. 

All who were immediately connected with Buonaparte, 
were doubdess very well informed on the subject. The 
empress retired to Blois on the first approach of the allies, 
taking with her fifteen wagon loads of treasure. An En- 
glish gentleman gives a curious account of what he saw in 
Paris at this interesting period. " At daybreak of the morn- 
ing," he says, " on which the empress left Paris, the dis- 
order which had reigned all night in the Tuilleries was ex- 
posed to the public. The window shutters being opened, 
the wax lights in the chandeliers were seen expiring in their 
sockets. The ladies were seen running from room to room, 
some weeping and in the greatest distraction, and servants 
hurrying from place to place in like confusion." 




394 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. * 




Blucher. 



CHAPTER XLT. 



THE EMPIRE, 



CONTINUED. 



Farewell to the land where the gloom of my glory 

Arose and o'ershadow'd the earth with her name — 
She abandons me now — but the page of her story, 

The brightest or blackest is fiU'd with my fame. 
I have warr'd with a world which vanquish 'd me only 

When the meteor of conquest allur'd me too far. 
I have coped with the nations that dread me thus lonely; 

The last single captive to millions in war. 

BiBOIf. 

1. The arrival of Napoleon in Paris announced to 
le'A' ^^^ French nation the great misfortune by which they 
had been overtaken ; but their confidence in the for- 
tune of the emperor was not yet shaken, and the most amaz- 
ing exertions were made throughout France for the com- 



THE EMPIRE. 395 

mencement of a new campaign. 2. It was soon known that 
the Prussians had joined the aUiance with Sweden and Russia ; 
and that the patriotic exertions of the people to supply 
resources for the war, exceeded the demands of their sove- 
reign. Napoleon, undaunted by calamities, soon found him- 
self at the head of 350,000 men, and hasted to Germany, with 
a confident hope that a battle such as Jena or Austerlitz would 
again make him the master of Europe. 3. On the 18th of 
April, Napoleon joined his army and advanced to meet the 
allies in Saxony. The activity with which he had repaired 
his losses was a powerful contrast to the negligence of his 
opponents ; in fact, the Russians had not brought half their 
disposable forces across the Vistula, while Napoleon had 
raised a new army and equipped them for the field. The 
allies were now outnumbered and defeated in two desperate 
battles ; but the French gained nothing by the victory, no 
cannon or prisoners were taken. 

4. Perceiving all the obstacles which he had to encounter, 
Napoleon began now to entertain some thoughts of peace ; an 
armistice was agreed on in June, and conferences were opened 
at Prague under the mediation of Austria. 5. They continued 
until the 10th of August, but produced no effect, for the French 
emperor would not forego his usurpations in Spain and Italy, 
neither would he consent to restore the independence of Ger- 
many. It was in vain that his ministers represented to him 
the danger of arming all Europe against his person ; it was 
in vain that Austria gave unequivocal proofs of her determina- 
tion to join the allies ; Napoleon persisted, until it was too 
late to retrace his steps. 6. On the 10th of August, Austria 
joined the allies ; the French emperor, alarmed by the news 
which he had received from Spain, attempted to renew the ne- 
gociations, but the allies would no longer listen to his offers. 

7. It was late in May when Lord Wellington commenced 
his last and most glorious Spanish campaign. The French 
retreated before him until they had concentrated their forces, 
under the command of marshal Jourdan and Joseph Buona- 
parte, at Vittoria. On the 21st of June, the Enghsh having 
possessed themselves of some heights previously occupied by 
the French, a general engagement ensued. The English 
gained a complete victory, their enemies retreated so rapidly, 
that they abandoned all their baggage and artillery ; one hun- 
dred and fifty pieces of cannon, with more than four hundred 
waggons of ammunition, fell into the hands of the conquerors; 
the vanquished army, after suffering severely in their retreat, 



396 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

escaped into France, whither the victors were preparing to 
follow them as soon as they had reduced the fortresses, which 
it would be dangerous to leave in their rear. 

8. On the recommencement of hostilities, the allies resolved 
to drive the French from their advanced positions on the right 
bank of the Elbe, as well as in Lusatia and Silesia. They 
succeeded in the attempt, and soon after occupied the heights 
above Dresden, in which city Napoleon had fixed his head- 
quarters. On the 27lh of August, the aUies made a rash at- 
tempt on Dresden, in which they were defeated with consi- 
derable loss. On this occasion, general Moreau, who had come 
from America to assist his old companion, Bernadotte, was 
killed. 9. The allies retreated across the mountains that sepa- 
rate Saxony from Bohemia, vigorously pursued by marshal 
Vandamme, with a division of the French army ; but Van- 
damme's rashness proved fatal, he was forced to surrender 
with 10,000 men, his artillery and baggage, to the armies of 
Russia and Prussia, by which he was surrounded. 10. The 
arrival of Bernadotte with the Swedish army restored the su- 
periority of the allies, and at the same time they learned that 
the king of Bavaria had acceded to their Coalition, and placed 
65,000 men at the disposal of the Austrian government. After 
a series of comphcated movements, the allies so far prevailed, 
that NapoleOn, with his faithful friend, the king of Saxony, 
was forced to retire from Dresden to Leipsic. 

11. The conduct of Napoleon in the last great struggle for 
the empire of Europe, was worthy his former fame. He drew 
up his forces in a circle round Leipsic, so as that each might 
mutually support the other, while the allies occupied a parallel, 
and, of course, a wider circle, which their successes enabled 
them daily to contract. On the 15th of October, the emperor 
dehvered eagles to some new regiments which had just joined 
him ; it was an imposing ceremony ; " the soldiers knelt be- 
fore the emperor, and in presence of all the Hne ; military mass 
was performed, and the young warriors swore to die rather 
than witness the dishonour of France. Upon this scene the 
sun descended ; and with it the star of Napoleon went down 
for ever." 

12. On the 16th, 17th, and 18th, the position of the French 
was vigorously attacked, and as obstinately defended ; but the 
numerical superiority of the alHes was too great to be resisted, 
and Buonaparte found himself obliged to command a retreat. 
On the morning of the 19th, Napoleon took a sad farewell of 
his ally, the king of Saxony, and quitted the city round whose 



THE EMPIRE. 397 

walls the battle was raging with fury. The Saxons now de- 
serted the French and turned their cannon on the retreating 
army ; marshal Macdonald and Poniatowski, however, slill 
gallantly protected the rear ; but a new calamity rendered all 
their efforts unavailing. Orders had been given to blow up 
the bridge over which the army retreated as soon as the pas- 
sage was completed, but the officer to whom that business was 
entrusted, terrified at the approach of the allies, fired the mine 
long before it was needed, and 25,000 Frenchmen, thus left 
at the mercy of the enemy, surrendered themselves prisoners 
of war. 

13. The retreating army were severely harassed by the 
irritated peasantry in their flight; but they cut their way 
through the Austro-Bavarian army, who attempted to inter-? 
cept them. This was, however, only a temporary relief; the 
retreat became at last a rapid flight, and it was with difficulty 
that the shattered remains of the second grand array escaped 
across the Rhine. 

14. The battle of Leipsic was followed by a crowd of im- 
portant events in such rapid succession, that men had scarce 
time to express their astonishment at one, when they heard 
intelligence of another still more surprising. The confedera- 
tion of the Rhine crumbled to pieces in a moment ; Hanover, 
Brunswick, Hesse, returned under the sway of their heredi- 
tary rulers ; and Holland in one simultaneous burst of popular 
loyalty threw off the yoke of France, and invited the stadt- 
holder to return from his long exile in England. 

15. Equally disheartening was the intelligence that Napo- 
leon received from Italy and Spain. The Austrian general 
Hiller had defeated the viceroy of Italy, the English were 
masters of the Adriatic, and Murat was entering into negocia- 
tions with the Austrians against his brother-in-law and bene- 
factor. Even in France itself, parties hostile to the emperor 
began to be discovered. The royalists prepared for the resto- 
ration of the exiled Bourbons, and some of the old leaders of 
the revolution began to hope that the republic might yet be 
restored. 

16. The calamities which France had inflicted on 
other nations, were now about to be severely retaliated J014 
on herself. Early in January, two armies under the 
command of Blucher and Schwartzenberg passed the Rhine, 
and masking the fortresses along the river, advanced boldly 
into the country. The superior skill of Napoleon enabled 
him to inflict several severe checks on the advancing forces, 

34 



398 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

who did not advance in sufficient union. 17. But these suc- 
cesses were the ruin of the emperor, for they fed him to break 
off abruptly the conferences for peace which had commenced 
at Chatillon, and the alhes, justly indignant at his insincerity, 
sternly rejected all future attempts at negociation. 18. In the 
south of France, Wellington appeared with the soldiers that 
had delivered Spain; no popular resistance was made to his 
march, every effort of Soult's army to retard his progress was 
defeated. Pourdeaux had been taken, and the Bourbons were 
proclaimed by the people. 19. The French emperor still 
undauntedly maintained himself under all these evils ; but in 
an ill-omened hour he 'placed his army in the rear of the allies, 
and thus left the road to Paris open. On the 30th of March, 
the division of the French army assigned for the defence of 
Paris were drawn up in line on the heights that covered the 
city, defended by one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon. 
The allies attacked them with great vigour, and Marmont and 
Mortier resisted the assault with equal spirit, but the force of 
numbers prevailed, and long ere night the heights were in 
possession of the aUied forces. Joseph Buonaparte, to whom 
the defence of the capital had been entrusted, fled, and Mar- 
mont, seeing all further resistance useless, signed a capitulation. 
20. On the 31st of March, the allied army entered Paris in 
triumph, and were received with the loudest acclamations. 
They acted not as conquerors but as friends, and declared them- 
selves hostile not to the French nation, but to Napoleon. By their 
invitation the senate was assembled and a provisional govern- 
ment established, at the head of which Talleyrand was placed. 
Soon after the senate decreed the deposition of the emperor, 
and proclamations in the name of the old royal family were 
everywhere distributed. In the meantime, Buonaparte having 
discovered the designs of the allies, resolved to make a vigor- 
ous effort to save his capital ; he hasted back with his army, 
but on the road he learned that he was too late ; he retired to 
Fontainbleau, receiving at every step news of the defection 
and treachery of his ministers and generals. After a vain 
attempt to have the crown transferred to his son, on the 11th 
of April, Napoleon signed a formal instrument, "renouncing 
for himself and heirs the thrones of France and Italy." On 
the very same day, a glorious but useless victory was obtained 
by the English, under lord WeUington, at Thoulouse ; it is 
not certain how the news of the capture of Paris was delayed, 
or whether marshal Soult deserves to be blamed for this use- 
less effusion of blood ; on the 14th, however, the tidings of 



THE EMPIRE. 



399 



peace reached both camps, and hostilities were immediately 
suspended. 

21. The sovereignty of the island of Elba, with a consi- 
derable pension, was settled on Napoleon ; the duchies of Par- 
ma and Placentia were settled on Maria Louisa and her heirs ; 
and pensions were granted by the French government to Jo- 
sephine, and other members of the Buonaparte family. This 
faithful though deserted woman did not long survive the fall 
of her beloved lord ; she died of a broken heart before the 
allies had left France. 

32. On the 3d of May, Louis XVIIL entered Paris, where 
he was received with every demonstration of joy, and France 
soon after received a constitution, founded on the principles of 
rational and moderate liberty. On the 30th of the same 
month the articles of a general peace between France and the 
allies were signed at Paris, and thus at length the tranquillity 
of Europe seemed finally secured. 




400 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Napoleon's Return from Elba. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



THE HUNDRED DAYS. 



And Harold stands upon this place of skulls, 
The grave of France, the deadly Waterloo ! 
How, in an hour, the power which gave annuls 
Its gifts; transferring fame as fleeting too! 
In pride of place here last the eagle flew, 
Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain ; 
Pierced by the shaft of banded nations through, 
Ambition's life and labours all were vain; 
He wears the shatter'd links of the world's broken chain. 

Btrott. 

1. The sudden change from a fierce war to a pro- 
,4^1 p^ found peace produced so great a revolution in the 
* different European stales, that their attention was 
engrossed with their domestic affairs, and France, with the 
illustrious exile in Elba, seemed for a time to be forgotten. 
There were, however, causes in operation which threatened 
to make this tranquillity of but brief duration. The prisoners 
of war who returned from the different countries of Europe, 



THE HUNDRED DAYS. 401 

could not conceive how their comrades had been so easily de- 
feated ; the army, maintained in full strength, were displeased 
to find themselves under the control of an indolent and peace- 
ful prince, instead of the enterprising leader, who had so often 
led them on to glory and plunder; there was a mutual jealousy 
between the nobility of the royal and imperial courts; and 
many of the returned emigrants began to speak openly of 
restoring the same order of things which had existed before 
the revolution. Joachim Murat, who had been permitted to 
retain the throne of Naples, became rather suspicious of the 
sentiments with which he was regarded by the aUied sove- 
reigns ; and finally the French government, with equal folly 
and injustice, withheld the stipulated pension from Napoleon. 
During the winter of 1814, Sir Neil Campbell, the British 
resident at Elba, became aware that some plan for the restora- 
tion of the deposed emperor vv^as in agitation, and frequently 
sent intimations on the subject to his government, which ap- 
pears not to have given these warnings the attention that they 
merited. 

2. Ambassadors from the different European powers were 
assembled in congress at Vienna, when they were astounded 
with the intelhgence that Buonaparte had landed at Cannes, 
on the coast of Provence, on the morning of the 1st of March. 
The entire number of forces which Napoleon brought with 
him to invade France did not amount to one thousand men ; 
he narrowly escaped from the English cruisers and a French 
man-of-war. But he rehed on the magic of his name, and the 
devoted attachment of the army, to restore to him once more 
all that had been lost. The success was as astonishing as the 
attempt. The soldiers every where united themselves to their 
beloved chief; most of the marshals hasted to renew their 
allegiance to the emperor, and before the end of a month. 
Napoleon, almost without firing a musket, found himself 
master of all France. 

8. When the news of these events reached the congress at 
Vienna, a proclamation was issued, declaring that " the Em- 
peror Napoleon had placed himself beyond the pale of society, 
and that as an enemy and disturber of the tranquillity of the 
world, he had rendered himself liable to public vengeance." 
A treaty was at the same time concluded, by which Austria, 
Russia, Prussia, and England engaged each to maintain 
150,000 men in arms, until Buonaparte should either be de- 
throned or reduced so low as no longer to endanger the repose 
of Europe. 4. The exertions made by the French to oppose 
34* 2 A 



402 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

this powerful confederacy, were truly amazing ; the campaigns 
of 1812, 13, and 14, had almost annihilated their cavalry and 
artillery, and yet they were in the short space of two months 
able to collect a brilliant body of horse, and to procure a park 
of artillery sufficient for the fearful encounter. 5. In the mean 
time, Murat hasted to his ruin ; he placed himself at the head 
of the Neapolitan army, and advancing through Italy, called 
on the inhabitants to throw off the yoke of Austria. The 
Austrian general in Lombardy at once assembled his forces 
and advanced against Murat; the cowardly Neapolitans fied 
almost at the sight of an enemy, and Murat, finding himself 
unable to retain his kingdom, fied for refuge to France. But 
fresh mortifications awaited him there : Buonaparte, indignant 
at the desertion of his brother-in-law in 1814, refused to receive 
him in Paris. After remaining some time in obscurity at 
Toulon, Murat proceeded to Corsica, from thence he sailed to 
the Italian coast to make an effort for the recovery of his king- 
dom ; but his little band was defeated, he himself taken 
prisoner, and soon after shot, pursuant to the sentence of a 
military commission. He died as he had lived, with un- 
daunted bravery, and Napoleon afterwards said more than 
once, that the fate of the world might have been changed had 
Murat headed the French cavalry at Waterloo. 

6. The forces of the English and Prussians were in the 
meantime rapidly concentrating on the Belgic frontier; the 
head-quarters of Blucher were at Namur, and those of the 
duke of Wellington at Brussels; the Austrians were known 
to be advancing through the north of Italy, Spanish troops al- 
ready occupied the passes of the Pyrennees, and the Russians 
were fast hastening to the scene of action. Napoleon saw 
that it would be injudicious to hazard another campaign in 
France, and hoped that by striking suddenly some great blow, 
he might break up the great European confederacy, and pro- 
bably be enabled to dictate the conditions of peace. 7. On the 
1st of June, a species of national assembly, called Le champ 
de Mai, was held, in which the new constitution of the French 
empire was ratified with great pomp, but with little sincerity ; 
ten days after. Napoleon quitted Paris to place himself at the 
head of his army; saying, as he entered the carriage, "I go to 
measure myself against Wellington." 8. On the 15th of 
June, Napoleon drove in the Prussian outposts, and assaulted 
Charleroi ; Ziethen, the Prussian general, held out against the 
immense disparity of force until the alarm had been commu- 
nicated to all the other divisions, and then coolly retired on 



THE HUNDRED DAYS. 403 

Ligny, where Blucher was concentrating his forces. 9. So 
totally unexpected was the rapid advance of Napoleon, that on 
the evening of the 15th most of the Enghsh officers were at a 
ball given by the duchess of Richmond at Brussels, when the 
distant roar of cannon interrupted their festivities. The drum 
beat, and the bugle sounded at midnight; long before the 
dawn, Sir Thomas Picton, who had only that night arrived 
from England, was advancing with his division on Qtuatre-bras. 
10. On the 16th, at noon, the French emperor, with the main 
body of his forces, commenced a furious attack on Ligny, 
while Ney assaulted the English at Q,uatre-bras. The battle 
of Ligny was long and fierce ; the intense animosity between 
the Prussians and French gave the combat the character more 
of personal than national hostility ; quarter was neither asked 
nor given, each seemed more anxious to destroy his enemy 
than to save himself. At length Blucher became convinced 
of the necessity of retreating ; one division of his army under 
Bulow was absent, and his troops were weakened by succes- 
sive charges of the French, in one of which the veteran was 
himself dismounted, and rode over both by friends and enemies 
without beinff recognised. 

11. At Q,uatre-bras, the English, after a fi.erce engagement, 
in which the gallant duke of Brunswick was slain, remained 
masters of the field ; but the retreat of the Prussians rendered 
the victory unavailing, and Wellington, in order to preserve 
his communication with Blucher, retired on Waterloo. 

12. The retreat occupied the greater part of the 17th ; on 
the evening of that day, the English, amid torrents of rain, 
took up their station on a rising ground about a mile and a 
half in front of the little town of Waterloo. They were drawn 
up in a convex line, which dropped off at the extremity towards 
the forest in their rear ; the chateau and gardens of Hougou- 
mont, and the farm-house of La Haye Sainte were strongly 
garrisoned, and formed the outworks of their line of defence. 

13. The morning of the 18th was rainy and tempestuous, 
when Buonaparte, having ascended the opposite hill of La 
Belle Alliance, for the first time saw before him the army of 
the only European general whose fame rivalled his own. 
Time was the most important object with both generals, for 
Wellington knew that victory was certain if he could only hold 
out until the Prussians came up. About noon the French 
commenced the battle by a tremendous cannonade, and under 
cover of the fire made a furious attack on Hougoumont ; their 
leader was unable to carry the chateau, and masking the post. 



404 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

pushed forward against the British right. The English formed 
in squares, and resisted all their efforts ; after a protracted 
struggle, the French were forced to retire, and the little garri- 
son of Hougoumont was reheved and strengthened. 

14. The second attack was made on the British centre by 
a numerous body of cuirassiers, and four columns of infantry. 
The French cavalry were met in mid career by the English 
heavy horse, and soon forced to retire behind their artillery ; 
the English having followed too far, were charged in their 
turn by fresh troops, and driven back with considerable loss ; 
among others, the gallant Sir T. Picton was slain. 15. The 
French infantry had in the mean time taken La Haye Sainte, 
and forced in some Belgian regiments, but being attacked in 
front by general Pack's brigade of foot, and on the flank by a 
body of heavy cavalry, they were routed with great loss, and 
compelled to fly, leaving behind them 2,000 prisoners and two 
eagles. At the same time they were forced by a heavy shower 
of shot and shells to evacuate La Haye Sainte. 

16. The third assault was made on the British right, where 
the infantry, drawn up in chequered squares, like those of a 
chess-board, and protected by a battery of thirty pieces of can- 
non, awaited the onset of the French cuirassiers. The artil- 
lerymen were driven from their guns, and the cavalry rode 
furiously on the British squares ; these steadily waited until the 
enemy were within ten yards of them, and then poured in a 
volley so close and deadly that the 'cuirassiers were forced to 
give back. These devoted men renewed their onset several 
times with fearful desperation ; they rode between the squares, 
forced their horses up to the very points of the bayonet, but 
the English line could not be broken, and the close cross-fire 
of the squares almost annihilated these fearless cavaliers. 

17. The battle had now lasted seven hours, three desperate 
charges had failed to break the British ranks, their wings had 
also gradually advanced, forming now a concave line ; the 
heads of the Prussian columns began to be seen through the 
wood, and Napoleon saw that on one great effort depended the 
fate of his empire. He formed his favourite soldiers, the im- 
perial guard, into two columns, and entrusted these, who had 
not yet shared in the battle, to the guidance of Ney, telling 
them that if they charged boldy success was certain. 18. 
Previous to this a fierce cannonade had been kept up on the 
British line, but the soldiers, by WeUington's directions, lay 
upon their faces, and thus its deadly effect was much dimin- 
ished. As the charging columns advanced, the Enghsh rose, 



THE HUNDRED DAYS. 



405 




THE HUNDRED DAYS. 407 

and forming into a line four deep, poured on their front and 
flank a deadly shower of musketry, which never ceased for a 
moment. Under this heavy fire the French columns vainly 
attempted to deploy into hne ; they halted for the purpose, 
wavered, and fell at once into remediless confusion. 19. 
Wellington seized the decisive moment to charge ; some un- 
broken battalions of the French guard for a moment seemed 
to oppose a formidable obstacle, but they waited not the attack 
of the British bayonet ; with indescribable agony Napoleon 
saw these his last hope, reel, break, and mingle with the mass 
of fugitives which lately was an army. 

20. The Prussians had now come up, and continued the 
pursuit of the broken army with terrible effect; the English 
halted almost on the bloody field, quite spent with the fatigues 
of this arduous and long-contested fight. They had indeed 
won a brilliant victory, but it was dearly purchased by the 
loss of 600 officers, and 15,000 men killed and wounded. 

21. Napoleon returned to Paris, and soon found that the 
army were his only friends in France ; in vain he appealed 
to the chambers, he was a second time forced to sign his abdi- 
cation, and a provisional government was at once appointed. 
Had Napoleon at once attempted his escape to the United 
States of America, he would probably have succeeded ; but 
he lingered, hoping that some chance might yet appear in his 
favour. When at length he arrived at Rochfort, he found the 
coast blockaded by the British cruisers, and found it impos- 
sible to carry out his design of escaping beyond the Atlantic. 

22. On the 15th of July, he surrendered himself to Cap- 
tain Maitland of the Bellerophon, and on the 24th he arrived 
in Torbay. After some delay he was informed that the allied 
sovereigns had resolved to send him as a prisoner to St. He- 
lena. Thither he was sent, and there he died on the 5th of 
May 1821. We are too near the time and the scene of this 
great man's career, lo form an impartial estimate of his char- 
acter and conduct ; but no stronger proof could be given of the 
reverence in which his memory is held by his former subjects, 
than the fact, that after a lapse of nearly twenty years they 
sent an expedition, commanded by a son of the reigning mon- 
arch, to bring back the emperor's remains in order that they 
might be interred in the capital of France. 

23. The battle of Waterloo put an end to the war; a 
military convention was concluded, according to which the 
allies took possession of Paris, and the French army retired 
behind the Loire. Louis XVIIL was once more restored to 



408 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



the throne of his ancestors; but unfortunately, he adopted 
harsher measures against the adherents of Napoleon than were 
prudent, or perhaps justifiable, and thus increased the discon- 
tent and dissatisfaction of the nation. The allies did not treat 
France with the forbearance which they had exhibited in the 
preceding year ; they exacted a contribution to defray the ex- 
penses of the war; they compelled the restoration of those 
works of literature and art which the French had wrested from 
conquered countries ; they took possession of several fortresses 
on the frontiers, and stationed an army of occupation in the 
country to prevent any insurrection of the people. 




THE RESTORATION. 409 




Louis XVIII. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE RESTORATION, AND REVOLUTION OF 1830. 

"France gave a crown and half a heart." M. C, 

1. France was in a very unhappy condition, after the re- 
storation of Louis XVIII. ; the great body of the nation might 
have been contented with the king, but he was surrounded by 
persons whose counsels were justly suspected of a tendency 
to despotism. The royalists seemed resolved to make an ex- 
treme use of the victory which the aUies had won for them, 
and to destroy every vestige of constitutional freedom. The 
appointments to the magistracy, and to the National guard, 
were taken from the people ; so that the force which ought to 
have been constitutional, became the mere instrument of a 
party. The partisans of ultra-royalty were closely allied with 
the more violent portion of the French clergy, and under their 
influence several outrages were committed against the pro- 
testants in various parts of France ; and even when govern- 
ment was forced to interfere, the murderers were allowed tc 
35 



410 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

escape unpunished. The nobility possessed almost a monopoly 
of the executive power, and they employed it to deprive the 
people of the franchises and privileges ceded by the charter. 
In addition to this, the accusations for treason and sedition 
brought against all who opposed the government, the violence 
of the clerical missionaries, who profaned religion to advance 
political purposes, and the intrigues at the elections for de- 
puties, diffused feelings of general dissatisfaction through the 
nation. 

2. The accession of France to the " Holy Alliance," at the 
congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, engaged the government 
in a system of policy, designed to secure the power of monarchs 
throughout Europe ; but a considerable body of the French 
deputies resisted the extension of the royal prerogative, and 
Decazes, the prime minister, supported by the moderate 
royalists, endeavoured to frame a system which would 
strengthen tlie monarchy, without injuring the constitution. 
He was, however, fiercely opposed by the ultras or violent 
royahsts, and an unfortunate event gave them a temporary 
triumph. The duke of Berry was assassinated by a political 
fanatic named Louvel, Feb. 13lh, 1820, and the ultras, or 
" the extreme right," as they were called, from the part of the 
chamber which they usually occupied, denounced Decazes 
for encouraging doctrines subversive of the monarchy. These 
accusations produced a sensible effect on the court, if not on 
the chambers, and Decazes resigned. He was succeeded by 
the Due de Richelieu, and a ministry was formed of the 
warmest adherents of monarchical power. 

3. Laws were passed, giving the minister the power of 
arresting suspected persons, imposing consorship on the press, 
and raising the qualifications for the elective franchise ; but 
even these violations of the charter did not satisfy " the ex- 
treme right," and they joined " the left," or liberal party, in 
strenuous efforts to eject the Richelieu ministry. The debates 
in the chambers were fierce and stormy, often indeed quite 
unbecoming the dignity of a deliberative assembly. Richelieu 
resigned his office, Dec. 17th, 1821, and was succeeded by a 
ministry still more violently royal: the dissatisfaction of the 
nation was shown by countless plots, conspiracies, riots, and 
incendiary fires, which were made the pretext for fresh laws 
of restriction. 4. Villele, the head of the new ministry, re- 
solved to send a French army into Spain, for the purpose of 
restoring the king to the power of which he had been deprived 
by the Cortes ; but he was opposed by a party, which more 



THE RESTORATION. 411 

than compensated for its weakness in numbers, by talents, ex- 
perience, and influence with the people. The royalist majo- 
rity, however, showed itself so very unscrupulous, by rejecting 
a member for revolutionary doctrines without allowing him to 
make any defence, that "the left side" quilted the house in a 
body, and the funds for the Spanish war were voted without 
opposition. 

5. The French army crossed the Pyrennees and met with 
little opposition from the Spaniards, who had little money in 
their exchequer, less valour in their soldiers, and no wisdom 
in their counsels. Cadiz alone made an attempt at resistance, 
but was finally compelled to capitulate, and king Ferdinand 
was restored to absolute power. The monarchical principle 
was thus established in the person of a Bourbon, and the go- 
vernment at the same time acquired some popularity with the 
army ; but it is doubtful whether the services rendered to le- 
gitimacy were not dearly purchased by the heavy expenses of 
the campaign. 

6. Scarcely had the Spanish campaign thus favourably ter- 
minated, when the nation was alarmed by the increasing illness 
of the monarch, who, though not very generally revered, was 
still far more popular than his brother, the heir to the crown. 
He lingered for several months, enduring his disease with 
great firmness and resignation ; at length he expired, Sept. 16, 
1824. Louis XVIII. possessed much natural sagacity and a 
highly cultivated mind ; but during his long exile he had be- 
come enfeebled by age and disease : he did not understand the 
change which had been wrought in the character of the people 
of France during his banishment; and he wanted firmness of 
character to resist the ultras, of whom it was said, with equal 
severity and justice, that during their exile " they had forgotten 
nothing and learned nothing." 

, 7. Charles X., formerly count of Artois, succeeded his 
brother, and won at first much favour by consenting to abolish 
the censorship of the press; but he continued to retain Villele 
at the head of the administration ; and, at his coronation, he 
revived many of the old superstitious usages which Louis had 
wisely abandoned. Under the new reign Villele brought for- 
ward two very unpopular measures ; one granting an indem- 
nification to the families of those emigrants whose estates had 
been forfeited during the revolution, and another reducing the 
rate of interest on the public debt. The laws were carried, 
but not without great opposition. Some concession, however, 
was made to public opinion by acknowledging the independ- 



412 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




ence of Hayti, and opening commercial intercourse with the 
South American republics. At the same time commercial 
treaties were concluded with Great Britain and the empire of 
Brazil. 

8. In 1826 Villele strengthened his ministry by creating 
thirty-one new peers. He endeavoured to establish the aris- 
tocracy on a permanent basis, by reviving the laws of primo- 
geniture and entail ; but the former was so odious to the great 
body of the French nation, that it was rejected by the chamber 
of peers. Public attention was chiefly engaged by the trial 
of Ouvrard, who had furnished the supphes for the French 
army when it invaded Spain. The terms of his contract were 
exorbitant, and he succeeded in effecting it by extensive 
bribery ; he had also joined in drawing double rations and 
double pay for the soldiers employed in the campaign. When 
Villele first heard of the transaction, he caused Ouvrard to be 
arrested and brought to trial ; but in the course of the investi- 
gation it appeared that many persons of great rank and influ- 
ence were impHcated in the transaction, and the minister in- 
duced the peers to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion. 
The abuses, however, which had been detected, were already 
made public, and the attempt to screen the guilty, combined 
with the illegal protection given to the Jesuits, exposed the 



THE RESTORATION. 413 

minister to public and not unmerited reproaches. The disso- 
lution of the national guard, the revived censorship of the 
press, and several harsh measures used in dispersing popular 
assemblies, completed the alienation of the French from the 
minister. Villele felt that he was losing ground, and he there- 
fore dissolved the chamber, though three years of its time were 
unexpired. At the same lime he created no less than seventy- 
six new peers, an act utterly inconsistent with the spirit if not 
the letter of the constitution. 

9. The result of the elections disappointed Villele ; a hberal 
majority was returned, and the king himself seemed to aban- 
don the principles of "the holy alliance," by congratulating 
the chambers on the victor}'' of Navarino, and expressing him- 
self favourable to the liberties of Greece. Soon afterwards he 
accepted M. Villele's resignation, and appointed a more hberal 
ministry, of which M. Portalis was the most distinguished 
member. 

10. The new ministry had no elements of strength; it was 
violently opposed by " the extreme right," by the clergy, whom 
the law of sacrilege had filled with hopes of recovering their 
former supremacy, and secretly by many of its own professed 
adherents. After a struggle of a year and a half, M. Portalis, 
hated by "the right," and suspected by "the left," found his 
embarrassments increasing so fast, that he was compelled to 
resign, but not until he had procured for himself the presidency 
of the court of cassation, the highest judicial office in France. 

11. On the 9th of August, 1829, the ministry, which finally 
proved fatal to the reigning branch of the house of Bourbon, 
was formed. Its principal mfembers were prince Polignac, 
who in his youth had been implicated in Pichegru's conspiracy, 
and owed his life to the clemency of Napoleon. Since 1823, 
he had been ambassador to the court of London, and he always 
professed a predilection for England, though he did not con- 
ceal his dislike of the democratic part of its constitution. Next 
to him was count Bourmont, who deserted Napoleon on the 
field of Waterloo, and found his treachery profitable after the 
restoration. Baron Montbel, a zealous supporter of the clergy, 
was named minister of the interior ; and M. D'Haussey, re- 
markable only for his ignorance and his conceit, received the 
charge of the navy. From the very outset, this unfortunate 
cabinet was assailed with unrelenting hatred by the leading 
hberals of France, both privately and publicly. The minis- 
ters were accused of having formed fixed plans for the sub- 
version of liberty and the re-establishment of despotism, and 

35* 



414 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the nation was summoned to guard the franchises which it had 
gained by the long struggles of the revolution. Polignac and 
his associates were not daunted ; they hoped that the declara- 
tion of war against Algiers would divert the attention of the 
nation from the constitutional struggle at home ; and without 
waiting to calculate the elements of their own strength, they 
opened the parliamentary session with a declaration, which 
rendered a violent contest between the royal and constitutional 
parties inevitable. 

12. The king's speech to the chambers, March 2d, 1830, 
contained the following significant threat : " If guilty intrigues 
should throw any obstacles in the way of my government, 
which I cannot and will not anticipate, I should find force to 
overcome them, in my resolution to preserve the public peace, 
in the just confidence I have in the French nation, and in the 
love which they have always evinced for their kings." There 
was a considerable majority in the chamber of deputies against 
the ministers ; the address, in answer to the royal speech, 
frankly declared that a concurrence did not exist between the 
views of the government and the wishes of the nation, and 
with equal firmness and prudence warned the king : " Sire, 
France does not wish for anarchy any more than you do for 
despotism." The king, on the other hand, declared his deter- 
mination to support his ministers, and, to prevent further dis- 
cussion, prorogued the chambers to the 1st of the following 
September. 

13. In the mean time, the French expedition against Al- 
giers sailed, and soon reached Africa. Algiers was captured 
with little loss, the treasures of the Dey became the reward 
of the conquerors, and since that period the city and its de- 
pendent territory has remained in the possession of the French. 
14. In May the king dissolved the chambers, and addressed 
a justificatory proclamation to the electors, which w^as one of 
the most reprehensible public documents yet issued by the 
ministry. It insulted the nation, it libelled the majority of the 
late chamber, and it stated the claims of royalty with an ab- 
surd extravagance, which would have disgraced school-boys. 
The only effect this document produced, was to destroy Yi^hat- 
ever little popularity the ministers had gained by the conquest 
of Algiers ; in consequence, the elections went against the 
crown, and a majority of opposition members again appeared 
ready for the field. 

15. Bigotry is equally violent and blind, and nothing but 
bigotry was the characteristic of the king, his ministers, and 



THE REVOLUTION OF 1830. 415 

of the whole court party. Pohgriac was resolved to subvert 
the constitution, but he wanted talent to act the despot : the 
wickedness of his proceedings is in some degree hid by their 
clumsiness and stupidity. On the 2<5th of July three ordinances 
appeared ; the first annulled the late elections, the second 
suspended the Hberly of the press, and the third, on the royal 
authority, established a new electoral system. So infatuated 
were the men who perpetrated such outrages against all con- 
stitutional government, that they seem not to have anticipated 
any resistance, and made no preparations even for quelling 
ordinary tumults. It was late in the day when the ordinances 
became known, but the consequences became apparent in 
rapid succession : the bank refused discounts, the chief manu- 
facturers closed their works and discharged their workmen ; 
the editors and conductors of journals met, and published their 
resolutions not to obey the laws ; Pohgnac's windows were 
broken, but the mob soon dispersed. 

16. On the morning of the 37th, the agents of pohce seized 
the types and broke the presses of the refractory journalists ; 
and as the latter did not in every instance quietly give way, 
crowds ready for tumult were collected around the offices. 
The signs of commotion were hourly increasing in violence, 
but they escaped the notice of the king and his ministers. 
Charles went to enjoy a hunting excursion with the dauphin ; 
and Polignac gave a splendid dinner to his colleagues. As 
evening approached, the efforts of the police to maintain order 
became more and more ineffectual ; recourse was had to the 
military, which had been placed under the command of 
Marshal Marmont, and some smart skirmishes took place, in 
which the citizens were defeated. 

17. When the soldiers returned to their barracks, Polignac 
was congratulated on his victory ! He vi^ent tranquilly to rest, 
as did the rest of the royalists, in full confidence that the whole 
business was arranged. The citizens spent the night far 
differently; arms were procured, barricades erected, the na- 
tional guard revived and formed into companies, and all the 
insignia of royal authority removed from shops and offices. 
The ministers had limited their operations to issuing a new 
ordinance declaring Paris in a state of siege. 

18. On the morning of the 28th, the citizens commenced 
the struggle by raising the tri-coloured flag in every direction ; 
they carried with little loss the detached guard-houses, the 
arsenal, the powder magazine, and began to menace the 
Palais Royal. It was twelve o'clock before Marmont, who 



416 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



waited m hopes of some conciliatory offers from the court 
which would have soothed the insurgents, reluctantly led his 
soldiers to the fight. He ordered the troops to clear circuits 
of streets, dividing them into four columns ; and every step 
taken by each of these divisions was fiercely and steadily dis- 
puted by the people. After a day of hard fighting the soldiers 
returned to their barracks, where no provision had been made 
for their refreshment ; while the combatants, on the other 
side, where cheered with every luxury that the citizens of 
Paris could command. During the day Marmont wrote to 
the king, that the disturbances were assuming a dangerous 
and revolutionary aspect, but he received no answer until 
night, and was then directed to persevere ; some of the lead- 
ing hberals also sought an interview with Prince Polignac, 
but were refused admittance. 

19. On the morning of the 29th, hostilities were renewed 
with great fury, but with no decisive result until noon, when 
the fifth regiment of the line entered into a treaty of neutrality 
with the populace, and abandoned its position. The citizens 
seized the advantageous post, and the guards made an effort 




Revolution of 1830. 



THE REVOLUTION OF 1830. 417 

to recover it ; during the struggle two regiments of the line 
openly joined the populace, and Marmont was thus forced to 
consent to a sort of armistice. Before, however, it could be 
arranged, the citizens stormed the Louvre and Tuilleries, from 
the windows of which they opened a murderous fire on the 
Swiss and the royal guards. These brave men, weakened by 
hunger, disgusted by neglect, fatigued by extraordinary exer- 
tions, outnumbered and disadvantageously posted, could make 
ho long resistance ; they effected their retreat with some diffi- 
culty, and at three o'clock in the afternoon the revolution at 
Paris was completed, and the city left quietly in the possession 
of its armed and triumphant citizens. 

The deputies who had come to Paris were fortunately suffi- 
ciently numerous to organize a provisional government. 20. 
They decreed, that the national guard should be organized and 
placed under the command of the marquis La Fayette; and 
on the 30lh of July they took the decisive step of inviting the 
duke of Orleans to place himself at the head of the govern- 
ment, under the title of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. 
Charles now recalled his ordinances, but it was too late ; he 
resigned his crown, as did the dauphin his rights, in favour of 
the duke de Bordeaux, son of the late duke of Berri ; but no 
notice was taken of his proceedings, farther than to intimate 
that his personal safety would be endangered by a longer resi- 
dence in France. He set out on his second exile, accompa- 
nied by his family, and on the 17th of August landed in Eng- 
land. He took up his abode for a short time in Holyrood 
palace, near Edinburgh, after which he removed to Germany, 
where he soon sunk into neglect and oblivion, 

2L In the meantime the French chambers assembled, and, 
after some debate, the crown was conferred on the duke of 
Orleans, under the style of " Louis Phihppe L, king of the 
French." 



2B 



418 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Louis Philippe. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



Then came a deeper, dreader sound. 
Crash echoed crash so loud and fast, 
We deemed a whirlwind swept the ground. 
Crushing the forests as it passed ; 
And quaked the earth ; and luridly 
Coursed the swift lightning through the sky. 



HinsT. 



The revolution which had so suddenly altered the po- 
litical aspect of France, driven her king from his throne, 
and opened the road towards freedom, was not without its 
attendant evils. Too many of those instrumental in produc- 
ing it, had, unfortunately, acted either from sinister motives, 
or with a culpable indifference respecting the ultimate end 
of the movement, and a callous disregard of human life. 
Unlike the pure patriots of the American revolution, they 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



419 




Dupont de I'Eure. 

had combated, not so much for principles, as from a love of 
change and excitement. This was especially the case with 
the middle class of citizens, the bourgeoisie. In the heat 
of the struggle they had called loudly upon the lower ranks 
to defend the charter against the ordonnances of Charles X.; 
but when the monarch's power was abolished, and the peo- 
ple's aid no longer needed, they were expected to relapse 
into their former servility. Nor did the presumptions of the 
middle classes end here. Not satisfied with oppressing the 
people, they looked upon the peerage with hatred and 
jealousy, embracing every opportunity to abridge their 
power, in order to enlarge their own. 

To this character of the great mass of the middle classes, 
there were some illustrious exceptions. M. Dupont de 
I'Eure, Lafitte, and others were true republicans, anxious 
for their country's welfare, and willing to make any sacrifice 
to promote it. Louis Philippe appears to have been of the 
same opinion at first, asserting either with sincerity or the 
better to dissemble his real designs, that he was but " a 
bridge to arrive at a republic." But these few were opposed 
by men, eminent both as scholars and politicians, and whose 



420 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

decisions on important questions were founded upon a 
thorough knowledge of the French character. M. de Bro- 
glie and Guizot were at their head. These men considered 
that the great object of the revolution had been, not the esta- 
blishment of republicanism, but the restoration of the 
charter; and consequently they opposed all attempts at 
limiting the royal prerogative, or granting concessions to the 
people. To these difficulties, arising from a variance of 
opinion as to the real object of the revolution, were added 
others of a still graver character. The more zealous repub- 
licans, alarmed by the apparent designs of the new sovereign, 
and deeming themselves betrayed by his election, seemed 
willing to unite with a number of idle and discontented 
young men, who declaimed against what they termed the 
treachery of Louis Phihppe, and threatened to engage all 
Europe in a war of opinion. The separation of church 
and state tended to alienate the affections of the clergy from 
the new monarch ; while at the same time, the partisans of 
the Buonapartes, and the exiled family, were each engaged 
in intrigues to promote their favourite objects. Amid these 
elements of discord and anarchy, the French throne stood 
for a long while, in a tottering condition, supported only by 
a doubtful union between royalists and the middle classes, 
and by the active measures of its possessor and his adherentSo 

The strength of the new administration was brought 
to the severest test by the arrest of the late king's ministers. 
This act had not been occasioned by the efforts of Louis 
Philippe, who would doubtless have been glad of their escape. 
Four of them being detected at a distance from Paris, while 
endeavouring to escape, under false passports, were arrested 
and hurried by zealous patriots to the capital. The govern- 
m.ent being forced to send them for trial to the chamber of 
peers, they were condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and 
sent to a distant prison. So great, however, was the excite- 
ment produced by their arrest, that one of the most formi- 
dable riots ever known in France, took place at the capital, 
defying, for three days, all the efforts of the national guards 
to suppress it. 

The outrageous conduct of the republicans only tended 
to weaken their cause, and excite against them the strenuous 
efforts of all the friends of order. The feelings of many 
amounted to perfect fanaticism. Attempts to assassinate the 
king were made by half insane persons, who, when brought 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 421 

to trial, openly derided all constitutional authority, thus 
bringing discredit and suspicion upon the republicans. The 
Carlists, or partisans of the exiled family, also injured their 
cause by a foolish insurrection in the southern provinces, 
which after effecting nothing was almost immediately sup- 
pressed by the government. About the same lime the 
duchess de Berri, whose son, the due de Bordeaux, was 
legitimate heir to the cjown, landed in La Vendee, for the 
purpose of heading the royalists in that district. But govern- 
ment had so well prepared itself for her arrival, that she 
found her partisans disheartened, and their movements so 
closely watched, that it was impossible to assemble them in 
any force. Not discouraged, she persevered against the 
greatest odds until her movements had resolved themselves 
into a series of insignificant attacks. In the midst of her 
perplexities, one of her followers betrayed her into the hands 
of the royalists, who immediately threw her into prison. 
Some time before her arrest, she had been secredy married, 
a circumstance, which, while in prison, she found it neces- 
sary to disclose in order to save herself from dishonour. 
The circumstance involved her enterprise in ridicule, and 
caused its advocates to remain quiet. 

During the progress of these events, another rebellion 
had taken place in Paris, in consequence of the funeral of 
General Laraarque. The fighting lasted five hours, and was 
attended with great loss of life. 

While the French monarchy was thus striving to sus- 
tain itself against a number of hostile parties, difficulties of a 
foreign nature demanded its serious attention. Ever since 
the fall of Buonaparte, the Algerines and other barbarians 
of the African coast, had committed a series of ravages on 
all Christian nations, so that it had become unsafe to reside 
in the Barbary states, or even to trade along the coast. In 
Algiers, owing to the frequent feuds among different classes, 
the French and English residents were sometimes obliged 
to leave the city, the French consul was insulted, and other 
outrages committed. These had led to the expedition 
against Algiers, which, together with the capture of the city, 
has been narrated in a previous chapter. The difficulties 
in that quarter, were, however, not yet at an end. General 
Bourmont, on receiving notice of Louis Philippe's accession 
to the throne, sailed for his native country, leaving the com- 
mand of the army in Algiers with General Clauzel. The 
86 



422 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




General Bourmont. 



first care of this officer was to quell an insurrection conse- 
quent upon the departure of the late general. He then 
marched with a considerable force towards Tittery, a province 
in the Atlas range. On the 18th of November, 1830, when 
within a league of Belideah, or Blida, he discovered about 
eighteen hundred Arabs drawn up in battle array. Their 
chief demanded that the French troops should not enter into 
the city, and appeared disposed to defend it. One brigade 
was sent to turn the place to the right, whilst another attacked 
the enemy's line in front. The troops soon forced the 
Arabs to fly, and pressing rapidly forward, entered the place 
at two opposite points. General Clauzel remained there on 
the 19th, during which time two detachments from the army 
invaded a neighbouring tribe, whose inhabitants had taken 
an active part in the defence of Blida. Their villages were 
burnt, and a number of the inhabitants captured. 

On the 21st the army resumed its march for Medeah, 
entering the Atlas range over a road peculiarly rocky and 
jagged. It had not proceeded far before General Clauzel 
perceived signs of an enemy, and immediately after ascer- 
tained that they were occupying the Col de Tenia, one of 
the strongest mountain gorges in Barbary. 

At this place the bey of Tittery had assembled his 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 423 

principal forces, numbering eight thousand men, of whom 
more than two thousand were Turks. Of this force fifteen 
hundred Arabs were posted with two pieces of artillery on 
the right and left of the road, and they remained so disposed 
in and around the gorge, as to occupy all the most favourable 
points. Here they were attacked by the French soldiers, 
and after an obstinate struggle, in which the assailants moved 
through heavy fires to the mouth of opposing batteries, were 
driven from every stronghold and forced to fly. After this 
victory, the French descended from the pass and entered 
the city of Medeah, [November 22,] capital of the beylic of 
Tittery. A government was established for both city and 
province, and measures taken to render the foreign residents 
secure in the enjoyment of their rights. On the 24th, Ge- 
neral Clauzel, with his army, marched from Medeah, reach- 
ing Algiers on the 29th. 

In 1831, General Clauzel returned to France, in con- 
sequence of being promoted to the rank of marshal, and 
was succeeded by General Berthezene. In consequence of 
a revolution in Medeah, this officer undertook a second ex- 
pedition against that place, where he re-established the bey 
appointed by Clauzel, suppressed all disaflfection, and left 
artillery and men to reinforce the French garrison. On his re- 
turn he was attacked by about twelve thousand of the enemy, 
posted on the summits of high mountains, which flanked 
a long defile, so narrow and diflScult that but one man could 
pass it at a time. Through this the French were compelled 
to march, and here they were assailed by their covered foe. 
For a short time the front of their column was thrown into 
confusion, from which they speedily recovered, and charging 
the Arabs with fixed bayonets, overthrew their masses 
in succession, and gained a complete victory. In this ex- 
pedition the French lost sixty-three men killed, and one 
hundred and ninety-two wounded. 

In the early part of 1832, General Berthezene was 
succeeded by the duke de Rovigo, acting as the commander 
of the army, and a civil functionary, to act as governor of 
the French possessions. Rovigo's policy was the very op- 
posite of his predecessors, being harsh and overbearing 
towards the friendly Arabs, and rigid with his own troops. 
His conduct exasperated the natives, and finally roused up 
the most troublesome enemy ever opposed to the French 
arms in Africa. This was the famous Abd-el-Kader, a 



424 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Abd-el-Kader. 

member of the Oran tribe of Arabs, and endowed with 
all the qualities necessary to the monarch and conqueror. 
By his influence among the neighbouring tribes, he banded 
most of them together in an expedition against the infidels, 
and threw over his plans the sacred but powerful veil of a 
zeal for religion. The health of the French general was 
such that he could oppose but little to so powerful an adver- 
sary; and in 1833 he was succeeded by General Desmichels. 
This officer restored the mild sway of Marshal Clauzel, 
and commenced active preparations for opposing his enemy. 
But Abd-el-Kader, proof against either rigor or kindness, 
suddenly assumed the title of emir, and marching rapidly 
upon the port of Arzew, caused himself to be proclaimed 
absolute ruler of the country. 

Meanwhile the French general was completing his plans 
for a vigorous opposition to the Arab's growing power. 
Leaving Oran, he retook. Arzew, and at length defeated the 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



425 




Count d'Erlon. 



emir in two battles. Offers of peace were then made by the 
victors, and accepted ; a treaty was signed on the 26th of 
February, 1834 ; and every thing seemed flattering to the 
prospect of a long and quiet French dominion in Africa. It 
proved, however, but a hollow pretence, a cloak under which 
the Arab prince concealed his own intentions, until sutBcient 
strength could be gathered to attempt their developement. 

The news of this transaction was received with dis- 
gust in France, it being regarded as the virtual surrender of 
all the conquests in Africa, and a prelude to abandoning the 
country. Government, however, declared its determination 
still to hold the regency of Algiers, under the title of " French 
possessions in the north of Africa," and committed the civil 
and military command to Count d'Erlon, acting as governor- 
general under the minister of war. General Desmichels 
was succeeded by General Trezel. By this time Abd-el- 
Kader had so far matured his plans, as to be able to march, 
in opposition to the direct remonstrance of the French, upon 
Medeah, defeat a party of hostile natives who threatened it, 
and enter the town in triumph. Soon after he made dar- 
ing incursions against tribes planted by the French and 
36* 



426 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




General Desmichels. 

under their protection. These applied to General Trezel 
for protection, which was promptly given. 

' Marching rapidly from his encampment, the general 
came up with the hostile army [June 26, 1835] posted in 
a well chosen position, ten leagues from Oran. Although 
the enemy were greatly superior to his own numbers, Tre- 
zel ordered a charge. After a desperate struggle, their posi- 
tion was carried, their troops driven from the ground, and 
great numbers either killed or wounded. Soon, however, 
reinforcements began to pour into the emir's camp to such 
an extent that the French decided upon a retreat. In effect- 
ing this, they were obliged to pass through a narrow defile 
near the Macta river, where they were again attacked by 
vast multitudes, their line was broken, and the whole com- 
mand forced from the passage. But for the intrepidity of 
General Trezel, who brought the advance guard to the rear 
and rescued the baggage, the defeat would have been total. 
This disaster compelled the French to confine their military 
operations to a narrower territory than they had hitherto 
done, and caused so much indignation in France, that Tre- 
zel was recalled, and Marshal Clauzel again sent to take 
command in Africa. On arriving at the seat of war, that 
officer found himself at the head of a fine army, numbering 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 427 

ten thousand men, and honoured by the presence of the 
king's eldest son. In marching towards the interior, he 
found fields laid waste, cities and towns deserted, the high- 
ways clogged with dead bodies, and other signs of the de- 
vastation effected by the emir's troops. The shrieks and 
lamentations of widows, orphans, and houseless wretches, 
flying from their burning homes, were heard in every quarter, 
causing the heart of even the rough soldier to relent. Abd- 
el-Kader succeeded in escaping the vigilance of the French 
general, until after the return of the latter to Oran. He was 
then defeated by the marshal, and narrowly escaped cap- 
ture. Not long after this success, Clauzel returned to Paris, 
for the purpose of communicating with the ministry. He 
had scarcely sailed, before General d'Arlanges, command- 
ing the army, was attacked by the Arabs in his camp, at 
Tafna, many of his men cut to pieces, himself wounded, 
and the army compelled to fall back upon a more secure 
position. A still worse fate might have fallen upon him but 
for the timely arrival of four thousand five hundred men, under 
General Bugeaud. This officer selected his best troops, and 
by a sudden march towards the interior, came up with the 
emir's army of seven thousand men, strongly posted at 
Sickah. A long and bloody conflict ensued, in which, after 
displaying admirable courage, the Arab chief with his army 
was defeated, and its moral force greatly diminished. 

When Marshal Clausel arrived at Paris, he imme- 
diately urged upon government the necessity of capturing 
Constantina, w^ere Ahmed Bey, subject to the Turkish 
emperor, had for a number of years given the French as 
much trouble as Abd-el-Kader had in the west. For the 
expedition, Clauzel demanded thirty thousand fighting men, 
four thousand cavalry, and supplies in proportion. This 
was granted, principally through the active exertions of M. 
Thiers ; but when the marshal arrived on the Algerine 
coast, full of hope and confidence, he received the mortify- 
ing intelligence of Thiers's fall, and that the new adminis- 
tration were opposed to granting so large a supply for the 
nrmy in Africa. 

But notwithstanding these discouragements, the old 
general resolved to prosecute the expedition without delay. 
Amid the greatest difficulties, in raising and equipping troops, 
obtaining provisions, and providing for the march, he col- 
lected his army of seven thousand men at Bona, and on the 



428 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Marshal Clauzel. 

12th of November began his disastrous journey. Heavy 
rains had destroyed the roads, so that cannon could be con- 
veyed only by dragging it through fields of mud, where at 
every step the soldiers sunk knee deep. Terrific storms of 
thunder and lightning scared away most of their oxen, and 
drenched the troops in such a manner, that numbers sickened 
and died. Snow and hail succeeded, attei^ded by frost so 
intense as to kill several men. Yet amid these scenes of 
desolation, the soldiers pushed forward, animated by the 
hope that Constantina would be found undefended, and thus 
fall an easy prey. 

Great was the astonishment and chagrin of both men 
and officers, to behold, after a nine days' toilsome march, the 
red flag of defiance waving over a city whose stony walls 
were impervious either to mine or artillery, while between 
it and themselves was a ravine of immense depth, between 
whose perpendicular sides rushed the angry waters of the 
Rummel river. The sight, to men broken down by toil, 
hunger, and disease, was overpowering. Many mingled their 
moans with the roar of the snow-storm then raging near. 

The French troops crossed the ravine on a narrow 
bridge, exposed to a blinding storm of hail and snow, as well 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 429 

as to the enemy's fire. After spending the 22d and 23d of 
November in skirmishes, the assailants commenced a furious 
attack upon the town on the night of the 23d. It was made 
by two columns, one led by General Trezel, the other by 
Colonel Duvivier. Trezel was shot through the neck. Cap- 
tain Grand and Commandant Richpanse killed, and the 
whole army driven off with great loss. The retreat to Bona 
was a terrible one. Famine, weariness, and the elements 
combined with the sword against the French. On the 1st 
of December, their shattered columns re-entered Bona, having 
lost four hundred and forty-three killed or dead of cold, and 
two hundred and twenty-eight wounded. 

France received intelligence of this disaster with a 
storm of indignation. Marshal Clauzel was immediately 
recalled, for the purpose of having his conduct submitted to 
trial, the Count de Damremont appointed in his place, and 
General Bugeaud placed over the province of Oran. The 
new leader arrived in February of the following year. Im- 
mediately after was fought the battle of Boudouaou, in which 
nine hundred Frenchmen, under M. de la Torre, routed a 
force of five thousand Arabs. But as the emir still main- 
tained a haughty front, Bugeaud took the field with nine 
thousand men, and marched fifteen days before hearing any 
thing of his enemy. He now received an invitation for a 
personal interview, which was accepted; and selecting four 
thousand men, he marched on the 1st of June to a beautiful 
valley, named by Abd-el-Kader. Here, after waiting until 
he had lost all patience, the French general was at last per- 
mitted to obtain a sight of his redoubtable enemy. The 
conduct of the latter was in the highest degree cool and dig- 
nified, while Bugeaud behaved in a manner ill becoming his 
rank or mission. The result, however, was the ratification 
of the celebrated treaty of Tafna, by which the Arab prince 
regained a considerable part of the territory which had been 
taken from him during the war. 

Soon after the conclusion of this instrument, the French 
general received orders to undertake a second expedi- 
tion against Constantina. Accordingly, in the latter pai't 
of September, Count Damremont, assembled his army, 
numbering fifteen thousand men, at the camp of Medjez 
Amar, from which he began his march early in October. 
Although every precaution had been taken to guard against 
the disaster of the previous expedition, yet the troops 



430 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Zoaves. 

suffered from cold and violent storms almost as much as 
those of Clauzel's army. The rain poured down in torrents, 
the soil became perfectly saturated, provender for the ani- 
mals failed, while at every step marks of death and desola- 
tion stared in their faces. 

On the 6th of October, 1837, the first column of the 
French army arrived on the plains of Mansourah, in front 
of the city. They were received with a shout of defiance, 
and a heavy fire of musketry from the garrison. Some 
sharp-shooters, about three hundred in number, concealed 
among the adjoining aloes, after greatly annoying the ad- 
vance troops, were charged by the Zoaves, or French 
allies, and driven into Constantina. About the same time, 
small squads of Turkish horsemen, descending from the 
mountains, kept the camp in a state of continual alarm. 

After almost superhuman exertions, the count suc- 
ceeded in transporting his artillery across a muddy plain, 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 431 

and placing it in a position to open advantageously upon the 
city's outer works. His men surrounded the walls in a 
kind of semicircle, and after the artillery had made con- 
siderable impression, they rushed forward with fixed bayo- 
nets, and carried the outer works. General Damremont 
then sent a young Musselman with a flag of truce, to sum- 
mon the garrison to surrender; but the haughty answer 
was returned, " If the French have no more powder or 
bread we will give them some. We will defend our houses 
and our town to the very last. Constantina shall not be 
taken until its last defender shall have been slaughtered." 

On receiving this answer, the count resolved on an 
assault, and rode forward to examine the enemy's batteries. 
While thus engaged he was struck down by a cannon-shot, 
and Geneial Perregaux, leaning over him, also fell. The 
command devolved on Lieutenant-General Valee, who was 
hailed by the acclamations of the entire army. On the fol- 
lowing day the French marched to the assault in three 
columns, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Lamdriciere, 
Colonel Combes, and Colonel Corbin. The garrison had 
made every preparation for their reception. The shock of 
battle was terrible. Gradually the Turks were driven from 
their batteries, the walls cleared, hundreds being dashed 
from the ramparts, and the assailants rushed into the streets. 
In these pathways, so narrow that a man could almost step 
across, thousands of infuriated combatants crushed and 
hacked each other, while occasionally a falling wall, or the 
explosion of a mine, as though impatient of the bayonet's 
slow work, hurried friend and foe in one undistinguished 
mass to destruction. One by one the Moslem standards 
were pulled down, and the tri-coloured flag run up in its 
place ; onward, with fearful slaughter, the French pressed, 
until their enemies began to thin, and crowds sought refuge 
in flight ; then a silence succeeded, broken occasionally by 
the shout of victory, and the loud moans of the dying; Con- 
stantina was taken. 

The loss of oflacers among the assailants was great. 
Besides the two already mentioned, Serigny and Halset, of 
the engineers, were killed ; Colonel Lamoriciere, Vieux, 
Dumas, Leblanc, Richpanse, and Colonel Combes were all 
wounded. The latter soon after died. The due de 
Nemours accompanied the expedition, and took a prominent 
part in the siege. After taking the proper measures for the 



43'2 



HISTORY OF FRANCE 




Duke of Nemours. 

securing of this conquest, General Valee retired towards 
Algiers, leaving twenty-five hundred men in Constantina, 
under command of Colonel Burnell. Valee was subse- 
quently made marshal of France and governor-general of 
Algeria. Not long after Abd-el-Kader renewed the war, for 
which his treaty had only been a pretence to gain time, and 
by the most strenuous exertions kept the French in a state 
of alarm and continual activity until 1847, when he was 
captured and conveyed a prisoner to France. 

Meanwhile events of a still greater character on the 
European continent had called for the national intervention. 
In 1830 a revolution had broken out in Belgium, the object of 
which was the establishment of a republic, or a union with 
France. This drew upon them the resentment of the Dutch, 
who prepared to march into the country with a large army. 
At the same time. King William of Prussia, issued a procla- 
mation, calling upon his subjects to aid in repressing a de- 
monstration so dangerous to the peace of Europe. His 
schemes were arrested by M. Mole, prime minister of France, 
who declared that the moment a Prussian army appeared 
in Belgium, a French force should march to meet it. The 
Dutch, however, met with considerable success, staining 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



433 




General Chass^. 



their victories at the same time with atrocities of the darkest 
character. But at length the republicans, rising in great 
numbers, drove the invaders from point to point, and wrested 
from them all the places they had occupied. Antwerp, 
which had hitherto stood out against the republicans, was 
bombarded on the night of October 27th, by General Chasse, 
and partly reduced to ashes. 

The news of this success was received in Paris with 
a burst of enthusiasm. All were eager to acknowledge as 
part of the French people, those who against great odds had 
so bravely maintained their independence. Unfortunately 
this disposition of the populace was not echoed by govern- 
ment. Louis Philippe, though willing to receive Belgium 
as part of his dominion, feared that by doing so he would 
offend England, by whom the efforts of the revolutionists to 
free themselves from Holland were considered a violation of 
the treaty of 1815. There can be little doubt, that a decided 
policy would have secured Belgium to the Fi-ench rule with- 
out danger of the consequences threatened by Great Britain; 
but the vacillation of the Paris ministry prevented the ad- 
vantages of such a union, and rendered the nation despicable 
to the eyes of Europe. Nor was the misfortune obviated by 
the French delegate to the grand conference of the five great 
powers, then meeting at London. He was the celebrated 
M. Talleyrand, so skilled as a diplomist, and contemptible 
as a man. His policy was the very opposite of what coni- 
37 2C 



434 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

mon sense would have dictated as the interest of France; 
so that Belgium, which had hitherto manifested a desire 
to unite with that country, now began to look upon such a 
step with alarm. Anarchy showed itself in many of the 
Belgic provinces, so that to the horrors of a foreign foe at 
their firesides, was added the prospect of a fearful civil war. 
Republicanism, which in the abstract had appeared so 
charming, became less so every day ; so that at length, the 
national assembly began seriously to consider the necessity 
of electing a king. The discussion on this subject was long 
and animated, terminating, however, by an offer of the Belgic 
crown to the duke of Nemours, son of Louis Philippe. 
Nearly at the same time, Talleyrand had agreed with the 
London conference that no French prince should ever sit 
upon the throne of Belgium. The consequence was that 
Louis Philippe refused the crown offered to him for the 
duke of Nemours. The kingdom was subsequently given 
to Prince Leopold, the former husband of the Princess 
Charlotte of England. 

In July, 1831, Holland renewed its attempts to conquer 
Belgium, and marched an army along the whole eastern 
frontier. Leopold was placed in a precarious situation. He 
applied to France for aid, a requisition which was prompdy 
answered, by sending General Gerard to his aid, with fifty 
thousand men. This praiseworthy step was undertaken in 
direct opposition to the demands of the conference. Late 
in October, the French crossed the frontier, and laid siege 
to Antwerp, then garrisoned by the Dutch, under General 
Chasse. The siege lasted with great vigor until the 23d of 
December, when the city capitulated on terms highly honour- 
able to Gerard, and his gallant troops. The Dutch were 
soon after obliged to evacuate Belgium, which has ever since 
remained an independent kingdom. 

In 1831 France was grossly insulted by Don Miguel, 
king of Portugal. Seizing upon two French subjects, resi- 
dents of Lisbon, he condemned one to be whipped in the 
public streets, and the other to be transported to Africa. 
The oflfences of both had been merely imaginary. On the 
French government demanding reparation, Don Miguel an- 
swered by ordering their minister to leave the country. A 
reiterated demand for justice being met in a similar manner, 
Admiral Roussin was sent up the Tagus, with a small fleet, 
and after safley passing the Portuguese forts, anchored near 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



435 




Marshal Gerard. 



Lisbon, and speedily brought the haughty monarch to terms. 
Full indemnity was exacted both for the expenses of the 
expedition, and the insults offered to the French residents. 

At this time the revolution in Poland was engrossing 
the attention and sympathies of the world. No people felt 
a more lively interest in the movement than the French ; 
but cramped by her alliances with the other powers, she 
was prevented from taking any part other than that of an 
impassioned spectator. The consequences was, that after 
sustaining, alone, a chivalrous but hopeless struggle, Poland 
fell, and was blotted from the list of nations. 

On the 20th of September, 1833, Ferdinand, king of 
Spain, died, leaving his" crown to the Princess Isabella, who 
was proclaimed at Madrid. Hers was destined to be one 
of the most stormy reigns that Spain ever witnessed. Im- 
mediately after the accession, a revolution broke out in 
favour of Don Carlos, the late king's brother. France, 
England, and Portugal, united in support of the infant queen, 
the first guarding the frontier, while England blockaded the 
coasts. The difficulty continued, however, several years, 
and caused a total change in the French ministry, consequent 
to the differences of opinion relative to it. The new officers, 
however, did not possess the confidence of the chambers, 
and their ministry was consequently dissolved in the follow- 
ing February. It was under their administration that the 
diflSiculty occurred with the United States, relative to the 



436 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




M. Thiers. 



twenty-five million francs claimed by President Jackson, as 
indemnity to American citizens for outrages perpetrated 
under the Berlin and Milan decrees, and which threatened 
for a while to involve both countries in a disastrous war. 

In February, 1836, a new cabinet was formed under 
M. Thiers, who boldly supported the republic of Cracow, 
the dey of Tunis, and the queen-regent of Spain. But the 
re-establishment in Spain, of the constitution of 1812, caused 
Louis Philippe to refuse his consent to the plans of his 
minister, and Thiers was succeeded by Count Mole, who 
endeavoured to promote peace with foreign powers, and in- 
ternal tranquillity. Many of those imprisoned for political 
offences were pardoned, — among others the ex-ministers of 
Charles X. This probably emboldened Louis Napoleon 
Buonaparte, a nephew of the emperor, to excite an insurrec- 
tion at Strasburg, October 29ih. It was speedily suppressed, 
and the young prince sent to America. After remaining here 
some time he returned to Europe, and took up his abode in 
Switzerland, whence the French government attempted to 
expel him. To avoid involving the country in war, he 
voluntarily quilted it, and landed August 6th, 1840, at Bo- 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 437 

logne, in France. Arming a few friends, he led them into the 
town, carrying his hat on a sword, while they shouted lono- 
live the emperor ! Some of the troops in the town being told 
that a revolution had taken place, and that Louis Philippe 
was dethroned, were about to put themselves under the 
prince, when their captain awaking, rushed out of his quar- 
ters, and restored order, by shouting long live the king.' 
The prince fired a pistol at him, wounding a private soldier. 
By this time the people had noticed the confusion, and begun 
to aid the garrison ; several of the prince's party were soon 
in prison, and the remainder, with their leader, taken to the 
city castle. Afterwards young Buonaparte was sentenced 
for life, to the fortress of Ham, but escaped in 1847. 

Simultaneously with this last attempt, another event oc- 
curred of great interest to the French people. 

From the moment of the overthrow of Charles X., the 
ardent desire of the French to bring back the remains of 
Napoleon from their resting place at St. Helena, began to be 
manifested. Numerous petitions were presented to the 
government, praying that the necessary steps should be 
taken to have the warrior's ashes restored to the nation, but 
for ten years no notice was taken of these requests — fears 
being entertained that the popular enthusiasm, which the 
presence of the relics of the emperor could not fail to excite, 
would inspire the people with the design of reviving the 
dynasty, and placing one of the Buonaparte family on the 
throne of France. On the accession of Thiers to the prime 
ministry, however, the subject was brought before the cabi- 
net, and it was resolved to accede to the popular desire. 
Accordingly, in May, 1840, the British government was 
requested to permit the exhumation of the imperial remains, 
and their transportation to France. The request was 
granted without hesitation, and orders given to the British 
authorities at St. Helena to render every assistance to the 
agents of the French government. The frigate Belle Poule, 
and the corvette Favourite, composed the expedition, which 
sailed from Toulon, July 7th, 1840, under the command of 
the prince de Joinville. Generals Bertrand and Gourgaud, 
and MM. Saint Denis and Noverraz, two of Napoleon's 
valets de chambre, accompanied the prince. On the 7th of 
October the ships arrived at St. Helena, and on the 8th were 
moored in the harbour. A few days having been occupied 
ill the necessary preparations, on the 15th of October the 
37* 



438 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

exhumation took place, under the direction of the British 
authorities. Having been covered with an additional leaden 
coffin, and the whole placed in an ebony sarcophagus, sent 
for the purpose by the French government, the remains 
were embarked on board the Belle Poule, and on the 18lh 
the expedition sailed for France. On the 30lh of Novem- 
ber the squadron anchored in the port of Cherbourg, 
and proceeded thence to Havre, which was fixed as the 
port of debarkation. Here the coffin and sarcophagus 
were transferred to the national steamer La Normandie, on 
which they were conveyed up the Seine as far as Val de la 
Haye, where the steamer Dorade took the place of the Nor- 
mandie, and transported the remains to Courbevoie, near 
Paris. The progress of the imperial corpse up the Seine 
drew together thousands of the people, whose enthusiasm 
knew no bounds. The national guards were every where 
under arms, and the most impressive solemnities were ob- 
served as the pageant passed. The 15th of December was 
fixed for the entry into Paris. On that day the capital was 
thronged by thousands upon thousands, among whom were 
not a few of the soldiers of Napoleon. The coffin was con- 
veyed from the suburbs to the Invalides, between lines of 
national guards several miles in length. The prince de 
Joinville presented the remains to the king, who received 
them in the name of France. They were then deposited in 
state in the church of the Invalides, where they were visited 
by immense numbers of people, who gazed on them with an 
affeciion and reverence almost amounting to adoration. A 
monument in the church of the Invalides now marks the 
resting-place of all that w^as mortal of Napoleon. 

Previous to this, several attempts were made upon the 
life of Louis Philippe. On the 28th of July, 1835, while 
proceeding with a splendid retinue, to review the troops of 
the line and national guard, a terrific explosion suddenly 
took place from a machine in a window adjoining the street 
where he passed. More than forty persons, including the 
Marshal Mortier, were killed or wounded. The escape of 
the king and his three sons was almost miraculous. He 
behaved with the utmost bravery, riding calmly along to the 
end of the line, and then returning over the scene of the 
catastrophe to complete th6 review. 

The contriver of this "infernal machine" was a Cor- 
sican, named Fieschi. He was immediately seized. No 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



439 




Duke of Orleans. 

motive was assigned for the act, other than hatred to the 
king, and no evidence could be found implicating any sect 
or party in his guilt. The ministry, however, so far im- 
proved on the occurrence, as to succeed, at the next session 
of the chambers, in passing three laws — one directed against 
the press; another allowing jurors to vote by ballot, and 
providing that a mere majority should in future be sufficient 
to convict, instead of two-thirds, as had hitherto been cus- 
tomary; and a third providing for the constitution of courts 
of assize, and the treatment of contumacious prisoners. 

On the 25th of June, 1836, a third attempt was made 
on the king's life, as he was leaving the Tuilleries in his 
carriao-e, by an enthusiastic republican name Alibaud, who 
was guillotined on the 11th of July. In December of the 
same year, the king narrowly escaped death at the hands 
of an assassin named Meunier, who was sentenced to death, 
but was afterwards banished. A fifth attempt was made on the 
15th of October, 1841, by one Darmes, who was guillotined. 

The year 1842 was marked by two disasters. One 
was an accident on the railroad between Paris and Ver- 
sailles, which cost the lives of two hundred persons ; the 
other the death of the duke of Orleans, heir apparent to the 
throne, who was killed by being thrown from his carriage. 

In 1838, the refusal of the government of Mexico to in- 



440 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

demnify France for losses sustained during the troubles of 
that republic by French citizens, led to an attack by Rear 
Admiral Baudin, upon the city and castle of Vera Cruz, 
which were greatly injured by the bombardment, and taken 
possession of, November 28th. AVar was declared by 
Mexico, but through the intervention of Mr. Packenham, 
the British minister, an amicable arrangement was effected. 
In the year 1840, a treaty was made in London between 
Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, settling the 
question of the possession of Syria by the pacha of Egypt, 
without reference to the decision of France. This led to 
violent expressions of feeling from the French people, who 
believed their nation insulted : the ministry breathed the 
same spirit, and the king consented to the augmentation of 
the army to six hundred and thirty-nine thousand men. 
The plan for the fortification of Paris, as it was called, for- 
merly rejected by the chambers, was now resumed by 
Thiers among his other preparations for war, and this 
would seem to be the only object arrived at, by the king, in 
apparently coinciding with the war feeling ; for he refused 
to allow his minister to denounce the treaty of July formally 
to the chambers, and to ask for further warlike preparations. 
Thiers, in consequence resigned, and a new ministry was 
formed, of which the master spirit was Guizot. That 
statesman continued the fortification of Paris, and coincided 
fully with the wish of Louis Philippe to preserve the peace 
of Europe. He remained at the head of government from 
1840 until the revolution of 1848. By every means in his 
power he preserved his country from European hostilities, 
brought about an exchange of visits between the sovereigns 
of England and France, and promoted on all occasions the 
intrigues of the king for the aggrandizement of the royal 
family, and its establishment by intermarriages with other 
courts of Europe. But his internal policy was characterized 
by pride and a disposition to encroach on the liberties of 
the people. During the whole term of his administration, 
the work of fortifying Paris was continued, until the whole 
city was surrounded by a girdle of fortifications of impreg- 
nable strength, the guns of which were expected to serve 
equally well in repelling a foreign foe or in crushing a revolt 
in Paris. But a storm, of which neither Louis Philippe nor 
Guizot dreamed, was soon to burst over Paris, sweeping, for 
a time at least, all vestige of royalty from France. 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



441 




Lamartine. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY, 1848.— DOWNFALL 
OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 

The hearts 
Of all his people do revolt from him, 
And kiss the lip of unacquainted change. 

Shakspeahe. 



To the eye of political wisdom, the throne of France 
occupied by Louis Philippe, and supported by the learned 
and sas^acious Guizot, appeared stronger than ever it had 
been, since the days of the empire. Nothing appeared less 
likely than a successful revolution of the people ; nothing 
more probable, than that the vast fortifications of Paris, de- 
fended by hundreds of thousands of armed troops, would 



442 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

triumph over every attempt at reducing them, whether made 
by a foreign foe, or an armed populace. Nothing was more 
unlooked for by France and the world, than an effort to 
overthrow royalty ; nothing, consequently, could have been 
more astonishing, even to the actors of the eventful drama, 
than the terrible convulsion, which with the power of an 
avalanche, swept the citizen king from the monarchical cata- 
logue of Europe. The events which produced it are now 
to be narrated ; its remote causes we for the present postpone. 

For some time previous to the revolution of February, 
signs of discontent began to manifest themselves among 
the French people, although by means sufficiently well 
marked to authorize an apprehension that the scenes of July, 
1830, were about to be re-enacted. A desire for parliamen- 
tary reform pervaded all classes; opposition to the ministry 
was loud and firm, and no less than sixty-two popular as- 
semblages, denominated reform banquets, were held in differ- 
ent towns during the summer and fall of 1847. On almost 
all these occasions the king's health was omitted on the list 
of toasts, a circumstance which gave peculiar poignancy to 
the irritation with which such displays were regarded by 
the government. Emboldened by the enthusiasm with 
which the idea of reform was received at the banquets, the 
members of the opposition in the chambers resolved on hold- 
ing a monster banquet at the capital. 

These demonstrations alarmed Louis Philippe. He well 
knew that the acts of government would there be criticised 
with a boldness which might endanger his ministry, and in- 
volve France in the horrors of a civil war. He therefore 
determined to prevent the threatened assemblage at all 
hazards. Military preparations were^ordered on a most ex- 
tensive scale ; guns mounted on all the fortresses around 
Paris ; large stores of ammunition provided, and no means 
neglected which might crush any insurrection in the capital. 

On the 29th of December, 1847, the chambers met. 
In his speech, the king congratulated the members on the 
peace and prosperity of the country, intimating at the same 
time his determination not to deviate from the policy he 
had hitherto been pursuing. With regard to the reform 
question, he said, " The more I advance in life, the more I 
dedicate with devotedness to the service of France, to the 
care of her interests, dignity, and happiness, all the activity 
and strength which God has given, and still vouchsafes me 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



443 




Guizot. 



Amidst the agitation that hostile and blind passions foment, 
a conviction animates and supports me, which is that we 
possess in the constitutional monarchy — in the union of the 
great powers of the state — sure means of overcoming all 
those obstacles, and of satisfying all interests, moral and 
material. Let us firmly maintain according to the charter, 
social order, and all its conditions. Let us guarantee accord- 
ing to the charter, the public liberties and all their develope- 
ments. We shall transmit unimpaired to the generations 
that may come after us the trust confided to us, and they 
will bless us for having founded and defended the edifice 
under shelter of which they will live happy and free." 

The debate on the address, replying to the royal speech, 
was protracted through nineteen sittings. The ministers 
declared their determination to prohibit the reform banquet; 
the opposition members announced their resolution to attend 
it — each party appealing to the law in justification of its re- 
spective views. At length the government intimated that 
the banquet might take place under a sort of compromise. 
They demanded that a single commissary of police should 
be stationed at the door of the banqueting hall, to warn those 



444 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

attending of the illegality of their proceedings, and then 
withdraw. 

On the 12th of February, after the paragraphs of the ad- 
dress had been voted separately, a division took place on the 
whole collectively. The opposition refusing to vote, two 
hundred and forty-one votes, out of two hundred and forty- 
four, were given for the ministers. The opposition depu- 
ties assembled next day, and resolved unanimously, not only 
to attend the banquet, but also, that no member of their party 
should participate in presenting the address to the king, 
even though chosen by lot to do so. Before adjourning they 
prepared a manifesto, fixing Tuesday, the 22d of February, 
as the day for the banquet to take place, and inviting the 
national guard, and students from the universities to be 
present. 

This call upon the national guards alarmed the govern- 
ment. It is true that they were to appear without arms, 
but at the same time to be drawn up in regular line, with 
the officers at their head. Dreading the result, three pro- 
clamations were issued by GeneralJaqueminot, commander- 
in-chief of the guards, Delessert, prefect of police, and by 
government, positively forbidding the holding of the proposed 
meeting. When this was made known in the chamber of 
deputies, the doors were suddenly burst open, and two hun- 
dred and fifty deputies rushed to their places. In five mi- 
nutes the hitherto almost empty room was filled to overflow- 
ing. M. Odilon Barrot immediately arose, and amid the 
most intense excitement of all around, denounced the new 
measure of government, and charged them with the respon- 
sibility of what might happen. He was answered by M. 
Duchatel, minister of the interior. Debate ran high, and the 
excitement was so great that occasionally the speakers 
could not be heard. At six o'clock the chamber adjourned 
in a perfect tumult. 

The proclamations of the government authorities were 
placarded at the place of meeting on Monday evening. 
When the fact of the suppression became generally known 
in Paris, it produced a scene wild and extraordinary. One 
of the evening papers could be procured only by main force. 
When the fortunate purchaser had fought his way through 
the crowd, with the paper crushed in his hand, to save it 
from being snatched from him, he was besieged by crowds 
of anxious listeners, to whom the bontents were read by the 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



445 




Odilon Barrot. 



light of the nearest lamp, or shop window, or of torches held 
by the crowd. Boys carrying papers to the stands where 
evening papers are sold, were intercepted, and the papers 
forced from them by competitors who seemed willing to 
pay any price. 

Meanwhile government was not idle. During Monday 
night, military wagons and artillery caissons, escorted by 
cavalry, were continually passing along the line of Boulevards, 
which connects Vincennes with the quarter of the Tuille- 
ries and Bourbon palace. Orders had been issued to con- 
centrate troops around the chamber of deputies, on Tuesday 
morning ; passports were delivered to all those whose business 
or offices called them to the chamber ; the garrison was in- 
creased to one hundred thousand men ; while besides the usual 
military arms, each company carried hatchets, adzes, picks, 
and other implements suited to the demolishing of barricades. 

Early on Tuesday morning, [February 22,] numbers 

of people, belonging chiefly to the labouring classes, were 

moving through the avenues leading to the Champ Elysees. 

At noon, the vast area between the chamber of deputies 

38 



446 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

and the Madeleine church was thronged with a multitude 
which, for a while, numbered thirty thousand persons. 
About noon a procession was formed, which marched to the 
hotel where the meetings cf the opposition had usually been 
held. The object of this movement was not to support the 
banquet, which had been abandoned by the popular leaders, 
but to demand a change of ministers. The same request 
had been made by a deputation of students, who had already 
presented a petition to that effect. On hearing the sum- 
mons to disperse read to them, the crowd adjourned. Mean- 
while, on the river side of the chamber of deputies, about 
five thousand of the populace were engaged in escnlading 
the railing and walls of the garden. Some succeeded in 
gaining the interior, when they rushed into the reserved 
parts of the gallery, from whence they were soon ejected by 
the troops. The mob then retired, singing the Marseillaise 
hymn, and crying "Down with Guizoi!" 

By this time the crowd around the church of the 
Madeleine had become most formidable. The regiment 
which had arrived was drawn up in line along the railing of 
the church, and were soon joined by several squadrons of 
the municipal cavalry. The people were then requested to 
disperse, and on their refusing to do so, were charged by 
the dragoons. At first the troops did not draw, but finding 
their onset without effect, they made a second charge, using 
the flat of their swords. By this means the mob was dis- 
persed without any loss of life ; and at one o'clock the main 
thoroughfares were cleared. In about an hour, the demon- 
strations again became formidable. The populace laughed 
at the efforts of the cavalry, and began the erection of barri- 
cades, and the plunder of powder stores. All the avenues 
leading to the Bourbon Palace were occupied by foot, mu- 
nicipal guards, and troops of the line. While one squadron 
was in constant motion to clear the Concord bridge, another 
was employed in dispersing a large mob, who were singing 
the Marseillaise hymn, and crying " Down with Guizot!" 

Meanwhile, the chamber presented a gloomy aspect. 
At first few deputies were in attendance; the benches of the 
opposition were completely vacant. At an early hour M. 
Guizot arrived, looking pale, but confident. At three o'clock 
the opposition took their seats, and business continued until 
five. After this Odilon Barrot ascended the tribune, and 
deposited on the table a formal proposition for impeaching 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 447 

the ministry. It accused tliern of having betrayed abroad 
the honour and interests of France ; of having falsified the 
principles of the constitution, violated the guarantees of 
liberty, and attacked the popular rights ; of having, through 
the systematic corruptions of private interest, perverted the 
representative government ; of having, for ministerial pur- 
poses, trafficked with public officers, and other prerogatives 
of pow^er, and also wasted the finances of the kingdom ; of 
having violently despoiled the citizens of their constitutional 
rights ; and of having, by a policy overtly counter-revolu- 
tionary, placed in question all the conquests of two revolu- 
tions, and thrown llie country into a profound agitation. 
The paper was signed by fifty-three members, Barrot's 
name being first. The president dismissed the chamber 
without presenting it at that time. 

During the whole afternoon the skirmishing between the 
mob and soldiery continued ; but by midnight all the barri- 
cades erected during the day, had been thrown down, and 
Paris was throughout the night in possession of the troops, 
who bivouacked in the streets and market-places. On Wed- 
nesday morning all vehicles had disappeared from the public 
ways, their owners being warned by the fate of those seized 
on the previous evening. In several parts of the city the 
pavements had been torn up to supply weapons to the popu- 
lace. At ten P.M., new barricades had been erected in 
various quarters, at which conflicts were now held with the 
municipal guards. At the Place du Caires, two men and 
one woman were killed, and several persons wounded. At 
the barricade in Cadreu street a child was killed, two men 
and three women seriously wounded. At noon the market- 
places were filled with troops. Two pieces of cannon 
were mounted, one directed towards the Rue (street) Mont- 
martre, the other towards the Rue de la Ferronnerie. Both 
were ready for use at a moment's notice. 

The national guards of the second legion had assem- 
bled at an early hour in the Rue Lepelletier, fronting the 
opera house. They formed in two lines across the street, 
one division being at each extremity of the theatre, with the 
officers in the centre. One of their number being asked 
what had happened, replied that they had declared for 
reform. Shouts for reform and of "Down with Guizot!" 
broke from the surrounding crowd, and as if by magic the 
national guard declared for the populace. An hour after 



448 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

they were proceeding in full uniform to the Tuilleries. At 
one they returned to the Rue Lepelletier. At this monient 
a squadron of horsemen arrived, and were ordered to draw 
their swords. The ranks of the national guard closed, amid 
the reiterated shouts of the people. An interview took place 
between the leader of the squadron and the officer of guards, 
when the former quietly retired. 

By half-past two o'clock three more scenes of the 
same kind had occurred. The municipal guards, who 
occupied the unpopular position of the gendarmes of 1830, 
were now, by order of the government, mixed up with the 
troops of the line, on whom the people were lavish of their 
compliments and caresses. A column of cavalry and in- 
fantry, municipal guards, cuirassiers, and municipal guards 
and infantry of the line, arrived by the Boulevard at the end 
of the Rue Lepelletier. They made a move like the others 
as if to wheel info that street, but the attitude of the national 
guard made them pause, and immediately the word was 
given to continue their march, the people rending the air 
with cries for reform, for the infantry and the national guard. 
Again a precisely similar occurrence took place, but this 
time it ended with the absolute retreat of the troops, for they 
turned round and retired up the Boulevard. 

Such was the conduct of the second legion of the na- 
tional guard. The initiative, however, appears to have 
been taken by the third legion, who this morning, at the 
mairie of the third arondissement — Place des Petits Peres — 
declared for reform. The municipal guards, whose bar- 
racks adjoin the church of the Petils Peres, were ordered to 
disarm them, and advance to the charge with bayonets 
levelled ; but the movement was imitated by the national 
guard, the bayonets crossed ; blood was about to flow, when 
the colonel of the national guard, M. Textorix, cried out, 
" Hold, soldiers ! these are the people ; respect the people." 
The effect was electric. The municipal guards raised their 
bayonets, shouldered arms, and marched off. 

In this position of afl'airs, the officers of the national 
guard met in council, and agreed to inform the king through 
their colonel, with the demand for reform and a change of 
ministers. That officer immediately proceeded to the palace, 
but could not obtain admittance into the royal presence. He 
saw, however, General Jacqueminot, commander-in-chief 
of the national guard, who promised that he would instantly 



450 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




REVOLUTION OF 1848. 451 

convey the message to Louis Philippe. The troops were 
meanwhile waiting with impatience for an answer, design- 
ing, in case of their request being refused, to march upon 
the Tuilleries. 

At the meeting of the chamber, M. Guizot announced 
that his cabinet had been dissolved, and that Louis Phi- 
lippe had sent for Count Mole in order to form a new 
ministry. In a moment after this news was made known 
to the people, who received it with the wildest bursts of 
enthusiasm. In less than half an hour it was spread 
throughout Paris. Hostilities ceased, the populace were in 
the highest state of exultation, victory inspired good humour 
in all, and all hoped for a speedy return of tranquillity. But 
the fair prospect was soon to be destroyed. At ten o'clock 
in the evening, large bodies of insurgents passed through 
the street hooting Guizot, and persuading the people to 
illuminate. Encouraged by their success, they made a 
formal proposition to the guard to illuminate Guizot's house. 
While the parley was going on — the street excessively 
crowded not only with insurgents, but a vast number of re- 
spectable persons drawn there by curiosity — the whole line 
of troops suddenly fired. Fifty-two victims fell dead or 
wounded. At first the people fled in consternation, but this 
feeling soon gave way to a thirst for vengeance. Then 
burst on the night air those terrible cries, " To arms 1" 
♦' Down. with Louis Philippe ;" " Barricades ! barricades !" 
The pent up floods of that wrathful deluge, which had so 
long threatened the kingdom, now burst forth to overwhelm 
all opposition. The dead bodies were drawn away on a 
cart, surrounded by hundreds, who, while uncovering the 
ghastly wounds, shed tears of grief and rage. Breathings 
deep but terrible, like the lashing sea before a tempest, rose 
from the excited crowd. The star of the Bourbon dynasty 
had set. 

Amid the general uproar, M. de Courtais, an opposition 
deputy, hurried to inquire the cause of the firing. He found 
the colonel of the off'ending regiment greatly concerned at 
what had taken place. He stated that when the crowd ar- 
rived, a musket, which (as he erroneously supposed) went 
off by chance, broke the leg of his lieutenant-colonel's horse. 
The oflScer commanding the detachment supposed it to be 
the commencement of an attack, and with a culpable irre- 
flection commanded his men to fire. He was in consequence 



452 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

sent to prison. It was afterwards found that the shot fired 
at the troops was no chance one. It was discharged by 
Lagrange, the condemned Lyons conspirator of 1832, who 
according to his own confession, on finding that affairs were 
likely to take a favourable turn for royalty, determined on a 
desperate step in order to rouse the passions of the multi- 
tude. A few minutes afterwards another murderous volley 
was discharged on the crowd in the Rue de la Paix, which 
still further increased the popular indignation. Returning 
to the barricades, they worked all night with such assiduity, 
that on the following morning there was not a single lead- 
ing street in the capital without a fortress. Carriages, de- 
signed for the military, were stopped, emptied of their am- 
munition, and broken up for forts. All night the drums of 
the national guard called the soldiers to their posts. The 
defences of the municipal guards were attacked and taken, 
and every thing, even bags of money, committed to the 
flames. Many of the guards were driven away without 
clothing, others escaped only by changing their dress, while 
some were killed or burned to death. At every house the 
people demanded arms, which were freely given by the 
citizens. 

Meanwhile the attempt to form a ministry under Mole 
failed, and late at night the king sent for M. Thiers, that 
he might organize a cabinet. Before attempting to do so 
he demanded that M. Odilon Barrot should be one of his 
colleagues. To this the king acceded, and Thiers pro- 
ceeded to name his ministers. 

Such was the state of Paris on Thursday morning. At 
every successive hour the situation of the government grew 
more critical. News arrived each moment at the Tuilleries 
that the national guard were fraternizing with the populace, 
and the regiments of the line with the national guard. The 
whole population was arming, and before noon the military 
power had passed from the government. At eleven o'clock 
proclamation of the new cabinet was posted at the corners. 
The papers were instantly torn down ; and at the same mo- 
ment the dense mass moved rapidly for the Tuilleries and 
the Palace Royal. By twelve o'clock the whole of that 
quarter of the town was invested. In vain the new minis- 
try had gone among the people and exerted all their per- 
sonal influence to allay their fury. They were coldly re- 
ceived, and could effect nothing except to place themselves 



454 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




REVOLUTION OF 1848. 455 

in danger. Before one o'clock a second proclamation was 
posted, declaring that the king had abdicated in favour of the 
Count de Paris, with the duchess of Orleans as regent. It 
proclaimed " a general amnesty, dissolution of the chamber, 
appeal to the country.'* 

But it was too late. Neither the dynasty nor its palace 
could be saved by so tardy a concession. Red flags were 
here and there hoisted among the mob, with the word 
republic rudely traced upon them. The ominous cry began 
to swell, " To the gallows with Louis Philippe !" At half 
past twelve, the attack on the Palace Royal commenced, 
and for an hour the firing upon it was excessive. It was 
carried by storm, and at the same time the Tuilleries surren- 
cered without resistance. As the people entered on one 
side, Louis Philippe with his family escaped on the other. 
The national guard marched in with their muskets shouldered, 
the muzzle downwards, followed by thousands of the people. 
A general ransack of the royal apartments commenced ; con- 
ducted with a strange mixture of order, enthusiasm, and 
inconsistency. While the worth of millions was destroyed 
with patriotic indifference, no one was allowed to appropri- 
ate to himself the least article, even though, from its nature, 
it could never revive the remembrance of royalty. One 
unfortunate man attempted to steal a silver spoon. Those 
who had just been smashing the furniture of the palace, 
compelled him to kneel, and after declaring that they thus 
served robbers, shot him dead. At the same moment the 
covering of the throne was being torn into shreds, and 
distributed among the mob. The throne itself was first 
broken to pieces, and then burned. All the king's private 
property was ruthlessly demolished, his carriages at the 
Chateau d'Eu were burned, many treasures of art in both 
palaces destroyed, and repeated attempts made to fire 
the Tuilleries. The money found there was carefully 
preserved, and subsequently restored to its true owners, 
while private property other than that of royalty was com- 
mendably respected. The king's papers, together with 
most of the documents of state, were thrown into the fire. 

In the chamber of deputies, the scene on Thursday 
was most extraordinary. It was not an inapt repetition of 
what occurred in the constitutional assembly, on the 10th of 
August, 1792, and of the decisive blow struck by Buona- 
parte on the 18th Brumaire, when with his grenadiers he 



456 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

turned the legislative body out of doors. At one o'clock 
the president took the chair, upwards of three hundred mem- 
bers being present. They gazed on each other with min- 
gled anxiety, alarm, and exultation. Half an hour afterwards 
the duchess of Orleans entered with her two sons, and the 
dukes of Nemours and Montpensier. The young count de 
Paris came first, led by one of the'deputies. With great 
difficulty way was made for him, amidst the crowd of officers 
and soldiers of the national guard. His appearance at the 
door caused a strong sensation, which soon broke forth into 
murmurs and hostile exclamations. Several of the people, 
however, rushed into the chamber with the young count, 
and placed him under the tribune. Immediately after the 
duchess of Orleans entered and seated herself in a chair, 
with her two sons beside her. By this time the passages 
and every vacant space was filled with such of the populace 
as had succeeded in pressing themselves in along with the 
national guard. The chamber was agitated in every part. 
M. Dupin arose, and announced the abdication of the king, 
and the regency of the duchess of Orleans. The scene that 
followed this announcement baffles description. One voice 
was heardabove the others exclaiming, " It is too late." The 
duchess and her children now appeared amid a group of depu- 
ties, (^See p. 461:) the national guards hastened to surround 
the royal family. The debate commenced — one long and 
stormy. During its progress a crowd rushed into the chamber, 
composed of national guards in arms and citizens carrying 
sabres, guns, swords, and flags. So great was the excite- 
ment that many of the deputies hastily retired, together with 
the duchess and her sons. The king's picture was shot at, 
and attempts made to tear it down. M. Lamartine, and M. 
Ledru RoUin mounted simultaneously on the tribune, but 
could not be heard. They wrote out, however, the names 
of members for a provisional government, which were car- 
ried about the chamber, on the top of a musket. AH the 
deputies then retired. At four o'clock the chamber was empty. 
Another terrible scene now took place at the Hotel de 
Ville, where, on adjourning from the chamber, the members 
of the provisional government sat to decide upon the course 
to be adopted. Suddenly the doors of the Salle du Conseil 
were violently shaken, and the people demanded aloud to 
have the first act of the provisional government communi- 
cated to them. Individually the great majority of the mem- 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



457 




REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



459 




Ledru KoUin. 



bers were opposed to the establishment of an unmitigated 
democracy. The populace, however, filled the hall, and 
completely overpowered them by demonstrations of their in- 
flexible purpose of seeing a republic in its most democratic 
form resolved on. In vain it was attempted to adjourn the 
question till minds should become calm. Every proposi- 
tion of that nature was met by menacing shouts, directed 
even against the most popular members of the government. 
M. Dupont de I'Eure, who made many attempts to defend 
the proposition of a republic in its less democratic shape, 
was compelled to silence by the most deafening shouts, and 
was so exhausted by fatigue and excitement that he twice 
fainted. M. Marie met with no better success. The anxie- 
ties he underwent had such an etTect on his countenance, 
that in leaving the meeting his own son could not recognize 
him. The populace willed that a pure democratic republic 
should be formed, and that every male above a certain age 
should be eligible to the national guard, and empowered to 
carry arms. Every attempt to oppose this, in however miti- 
gated a form, was the signal of renewed shouts of menace 
and indignation. The popular will prevailed, and resolu- 
tions were passed in accordance with it. 



460 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

The new government immediately issued a proclamation, 
declaring liberty and equality to all, and calling on the people 
to maintain order. The names of the members were MM. 
Dupont de I'Eure, Lamartine, Cremieux, Arago, Ledru 
RoUin, and Gamier Pages. They disbanded the municipal 
guard, and confided the protection of Paris to the national 
guard. The appearance of the mob at this time is most 
graphically described in the following account by an eye- 
witness. 

" Truly there was something in the aspect of that savage 
mob that might have appalled the stoutest heart. The wild, 
strange figures, I beheld among them recur to my memory 
like the shapes of an incoherent dream. Hideous faces, 
distorted with rage, gaunt with want, inflamed with liquor, 
came nearer and nearer ; some blackened with soot — some 
reddened with ochre — hundreds crowned with the terrible 
RED CAP. The fiercest and most reckless were of course 
in front. Amongst the motly crowd were figures that, under 
any other circumstances, would have excited laughter. I 
saw a great blacksmith armed with a delicate rapier, having 
a<;ostly hilt of sparkling steel and jewels. He eagerly be- 
sought a gamin next him to take this weapon in exchange 
for a great cutlass which the urchin carried, and which his 
strength was manifestly inadequate to wield ; but the boy 
disdainfully refused. There was a miserable object, clad in 
rotten, loathesome rags (through which his flesh showed in 
a dozen places,) carrying a tall spear with a broad antique 
blade, richly damasked, springing from a great tassel of gold 
and silk, and having for cross-piece a twisted serpent curi- 
ously carved in steel. A ragged boy had a pair of pistols 
with ivory stocks, and set with a large ruby ; and I saw 
him freely give one of these to an urchin as ragged as him- 
self. There was a man who had lost his gun offlering a 
hatful of cartridges for a sword — a bargain which was caught 
at in a moment. One had a butcher's hook — another a car- 
penter's adze — a third carried a heavy area spike, the tip 
of which showed as if it had been lately on the grindstone. 
Many had bayonets or short pikes fixed on the ends of 
broomsticks. I saw one man with nothing but a long piece 
of wire, about as thick as a stair-rod, sharpened at the ex- 
tremity. Sledge-hammers, crowbars, shapeless lengths of 
iron, gleamed amongst the weapons. I saw a man with a 
great scythe blade, another with a hoe, while a third carried 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



461 




REVOLUTION OF 1848. 463 

in his hand a coil of rope with an iron weight at the end. 
One man toiled under a fluted iron column — a gas-post, pro- 
bably, torn down to serve as a battering-ram. Amongst the 
boys I noticed several with their aprons full of stones. 

" Suddenly a soldier's horse, richly caparisoned, broke 
loose, dashed into the middle of the place, and after stopping 
and looking around him, began to kick furiously. He was 
caught and mounted by a beggar with ragged trousers and 
naked feet, who carried a plank with a piece of red carpet 
nailed to it by way of a flag, and brandished above the red 
cap on his head a butcher's chopper. Thus raised, he 
seemed to think himself the leader of the insurrection ; but 
whilst he was bawling with violent gesticulations, the horse 
suddenly set off" at full gallop, dashed through the infantry, 
who hastily opened their ranks to let him pass, and disap- 
peared beneath the archway beyond — with his luckless rider, 
capless, flagless, hatchetless, clinging in terror to his mane. 
In the midst of this strange confusion two figures especially 
struck me : — one, that of a Turk in full costume, with his 
loose trousers, silk sashes, &c., who stood gravely, sword in 
hand, apparently well disposed for the fray ;* the other, that 
of a young woman, elegantly dressed in a richly-coloured 
velvet visile, who kept close beside a handsome young fellow 
with long hair, armed to the teeth with pistols, sword, musket, 
and bayonet. I set them down for a student and his mis- 
tress ; — they both laughed and talked eagerly — evidently 
enjoying the scene, and apparently indifferent to the danger. 
I could not see the girl's face, but I pictured her with the 
features of an antique heroine, glowing with dauntless love." 

During this time the king and queen passed from the 
palace through crowds of the people and national guards, 
and entered two small black carriages, with one horse each. 
In the first were two children. The coachman drove with 
frantic speed towards the channel. The remaining portions 
of the royal family were scattered in every direction. The 
duchess of Montpensier, after flying from the palace, wan- 
dered about the streets of Paris until five o'clock. She was 
accompanied by an old Spanish servant, who was ignorant 
of the French language. Being recognized by a citizen, she 
was taken under his protection, and on the 29lh of February 

• This was, perhaps, Achmet Pasha, son of Mohammed Ali, who 
is known to have fought gallantly on the popular side. 



464 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Gamier Pages. 



reached England. The duchess of Orleans passed the night 
at the " Invalides." The dukes of Nemours and Montpen- 
sier were both separated from their wives during the flight, 
and could not rejoin them until after arriving in England. The 
ex-king and queen embarked for England on the evening of 
March 2d, in the English steamer Express. Both were 
completely disguised. They landed at Newhaven bridge, 
about noon of the 3d, and were kindly received by the popu- 
lace and authorities. 

Such was the fall of the Bourbon dynasty. Louis Philippe 
reigned seventeen years and a half; during no period of which 
can he be said to have been popular with the mass of his 
subjects. His political errors may be reduced to two classes. 
He neglected to furnish the people with objects of national 
interest on which they might lavish their proverbial resdess- 
ness ; while on the other hand, he sought the aggrandize- 
ment of royalty and his own family, even at the expense of 
pooplar rights. 

Throughout his whole reign he contended with the latent 
flames of republicanism and national military renown ; the 
first fostered by two revolutions, the second by the am- 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 465 

bilious genius of Napoleon. The policy of Louis Philippe 
was that of international peace — and especially during liie 
Guizot administration did his efforts to pursue it approach 
almost to weakness. Whether this were right or wrong, it 
certainly accorded ill with French ambition, and the popular 
remembrance of the conquests of 1808-11. Here was one 
grand difficulty under which the citizen king laboured. The 
nation longed to assist Poland ; Louis Philippe restrained it. 
It would have plunged into the eastern quarrel, but the king 
held back. For a little while the affairs of Belgium pro- 
mised a gratification of the martial appetite; but tlie course 
of Louis Philippe dampened the public ardour, and brought 
odium upon himself. The prospect of war with Mexico 
was clouded by the treaty with that nation ; and the antici- 
pated quarrel with the United States was prevented in a 
similar manner. To atone in some measure for this oppo- 
sition of views, the monarch should have embarked in com- 
merce, or some such active pursuit; but, unfortunately, he 
pent up that great outlet of angry waters — war — which had 
ever occupied so great a portion of popular sympathy, and 
at the same time prevented the opening of any other. The 
consequence was, that the accumulations of years burst like 
a deluge over its barriers, and swept king and kingdom be- 
fore. He saved Europe from a general war, but paid for its 
salvation in the ruin of his family. 

The second error of Louis Philippe was his selfish eager- 
ness to aggrandize the Bourbon family. His pacific policy 
was partly for the furtherance of this end. By means of 
assiduous negotiations, he intermarried his children and 
relatives with the other powers of Europe, thus strengthen- 
ing himself by the ties of consanguinity and domestic in- 
terest. Not the least of his political crimes was the attempts 
at suppressing the publication of all journals likely to oppose 
his favourite schemes. All mention of his measures, except 
in praise, was forbidden. All violent attacks upon any 
class of citizens, blame against government, all censures 
against either of the chambers, or criticisms on public insti- 
tutions were forbidden under penalty of fine or imprison- 
ment. Corrupt courts of law and packed juries were of 
frequent occurrence. The Court of Peers, appointed by 
the Crown, sat in judgment on newspaper writers and edi- 
tors ; printers and booksellers could be deprived of their 
licenses even without trial; few would venture to publish 

2E 



466 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

an opposition paper, or in any way to censure the proceed- 
ings of government. 

Neither were the civil and religious rights of the people 
respected, as they had hoped would be the case in 1830. 
The manner of arrest, of trial, and of imprisonment, was 
frequently in defiance of the constitution ; and in political 
cases it was extremely difficult for the prisoner to obtain an 
acquittal. Public instruction was so much neglected that 
one half of the population were unable to read or write. 
Private meetings of more than twenty persons were forbid- 
den, if the object of assembling was politics. At the same 
time the expenses of government were enormous. The 
numerous diplomatic transactions with other European 
courts ; the protracted struggle in Algiers ; the frequent 
intermarriages ; the standing army of hundreds of thousands 
of men ; the belt of fortifications around Paris ; the im- 
mense number of public officers depending on the crown, 
made France poor, and paralyzed exertions which if pro- 
perly applied and fostered, might have given to the nation 
that commercial or manufacturing importance for which it is 
admirably adapted by nature and geographical position. 

These were the principal causes which led to the down- 
fall of Louis Philippe. In summing them up, we may ob- 
serve, that his foreign policy was in general commendable, 
but opposed to the character of his people ; his internal 
policy was marked by selfishness, added to a strange blind- 
ness as to the ultimate consequence. 




PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 



467 




Louis Bianc. 



CHAPTER XLVL 

FRANCE UNDER THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 

The more the bold, the bustling, and the bad, 
Press to usurp of power, the more 
Behoves it virtue, with indignant zeal, 
To check their combination. 

Thomson. 



Although the day after the battle [February 25] passed 
away without any infraction of peace, it was one of strange 
tumultuous excitement. The streets were crowded with pro- 
menaders of both sexes, wearing more the appearance of cele- 
brating a festival, than reviewing the traces of a recent and 
bloody revolution. Notwithstanding the superficial mirth 
and forced hilarity of the citizens, the whole city wore a sad 
and desolate aspect. Pavements, trees, posts, portions of 



468 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

houses, had been torn up to construct barricades. The streets 
appeared as though an earthquake had suddenly destroyed all 
order, and heaved their contents together, in heavy confused 
masses. Near the residence of the minister of foreign 
affairs, pools of blood lay, fifty paces long. Quantities of 
blood were in other places, although not in the same amount. 
During the day all the detached forts around Paris surren- 
dered without resistance. Through the exertions of La- 
martine, order was in a great measure restored before night. 
With the most admirable courage and exertion, he moved 
among the still infuriated mob, exhorting them to trust in 
the provisional government, and rally for its defence. From 
the windows of the H6tel de Ville he five times addressed 
the people, and prevented an outbreak, which, once started, 
would have been the most terrible witnessed by France 
since 1793. By his suggestions, capital punishment for 
political crimes was abolished, and the tri-coloured flag sub- 
stituted for the fearfully emblematic red one. His words to 
the people on the latter subject are worthy of preservation. 
" To-day you demand from us the red flag instead of the 
tri-colour one. Citizens ! for my part I will never adopt the 
red flag ; and I will explain in a word why I will oppose it 
with all the strength of my patriotism. It is, citizens, be- 
cause the tri-colour flag has made the tour of the world, 
under the republic and the empire, with our liberties and 
our glories, and that the red flag has only made the tour of 
the Champ de Mars, trailed through torrents of the blood of 
the people." The effect of such oratory was all-powerful. 
While shedding tears, the populace seized the speaker's 
hands, embraced him, and bore him away in triumph. Soon 
after fresh masses of the people arrived, armed with swords 
and bayonets. Rushing into the doors, they filled the large 
saloons of the Hotel de Ville, and demanded the destruction 
of the provisional government. Terrible cries were now 
heard outside, where it was believed that the mob were 
massacring the members. Lamartine was again called for ; 
but when raised on a staircase, it was half an hour before 
he could be heard. During that fearful interval, weapons 
of every kind were brandished around him, yells of demo- 
niac fury rang along the walls, and all trembled lest he 
should be torn from his place and trampled under foot. His 
very calmness at length restored some degree of quiet, and 
then folding his arms, he commenced his address. It was 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 469 

finished by softening, appeasing, and caressing the people, 
causing them either to withdraw, or unite as the safeguards 
of the new government. 

On the following day, the restoration of order was com- 
pleted. The public departments resumed their duties, 
business revived, and a more cheerful aspect began to pre- 
sent itself in the streets and places of public resort. Under 
the scientific direction of the students of the polytechnic 
school, the streets were partially cleared of the barricades, 
but in such a way as not to compromise the security against 
a surprise afforded by these popular fortifications. This 
enabled farmers to bring in their provisions, which by this 
time were greatly needed. The coach and cab drivers 
resumed their occupations ; the law courts their sittings ; 
fancy shops were reopened, and every means taken to calm 
the popular apprehensions. On the same day, Lamartine 
proclaimed to shouting multitudes the establishment of a 
republic, the abolition of the death punishment for political 
crimes, and other measures adopted by the provisional 
government. They had been deliberated upon and passed 
in a session of sixty consecutive hours, amid the infuriated 
yells of an intoxicated and distrustful populace. The abo- 
lition of capital punishment contributed, perhaps, more than 
any other measure to convince the irritated populace of the 
wisdom and moderation of their new leaders, and to save 
France, for that time, at least, from the horrors of anarchy 
and civil war. The unanimity with which the people ac- 
cepted their new rulers was strangely in contrast with the 
bitter prejudices they had previously entertained, thus form- 
ino- as sudden and remarkable a transition from one extreme 
to the other, as we have seen characterizing all the great 
events of this extraordinary revolution. Marshal Bugeaud 
on the part of the army, and the archbishop of Paris on that 
of the clergy, immediately gave in their adhesion ; while 
with regard to the middle classes, whether in Paris or the 
provinces, together with the entire press, there appears to 
have been litde hesitation. A few attempts to get up a 
legitimatist demonstration were either suppressed or treated 
with cold indifference. The Sabbath [February 27] was 
set apart as a day of festivity and rejoicing. The barricades 
had been removed, the streets were crowded, and every 
thing appeared as though the events of the week had been 
forgotten. At two P.M., the provisional government re- 
40 



470 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

viewed the national guards, before the " column of July." 
In the evening, the city was illuminated in such a manner as 
to make the tri-colour conspicuous in the most important 
public buildings. Newspapers were distributed among the 
vast crowds, and to attract notice, the carriers proclaimed 
aloud that the ex-king was dead. 

Although in general both public and private property was 
respected, yet beyond the walls of the capital there was 
much wanton destruction. On Saturday, the king's beau- 
tiful country-seat at Neuilly was burned to the ground, 
although most of its valuable contents were saved. A large 
body of marauders then rushed into the cellars, where they 
found wine of all descriptions, and a cask of rum, which 
they broke open. After free indulgence, they commenced a 
furious battle with empty bottles, during which most of them 
were felled to the ground. Meanwhile, those above having 
pillaged the building, set it on fire, thus burning to death or 
suffocating their drunken comrades. More than one hun- 
dred dead bodies were dug out on Sunday. On the same 
day [Sabbath] the splendid mansion of the Baron Roths- 
child, at Surennes, was committed to the flames, under the 
impression of its being the king's property. On ascertain- 
ing their mistake, the mob, with ridiculous insolence, waited 
upon the proprietor, to apologize for their mistake. A gang 
of incendiaries proceeded to Maison Lafitte, near Paris, for 
the purpose of burning the bridge. The national guard im- 
mediately took arms, but not being sufficiently strong to 
oppose the mob, they were reinforced by a larger detach- 
ment, accompanied by a squadron of dragoons. These 
attacked the incendiaries, killed eight, took a number pri- 
soners, and saved the bridge. The greatest damage was 
that done to the northern railroad, where property was de- 
stroyed to the value of two millions of dollars. 

The gradual restoration of confidence between different 
classes of the populace, as well as with the government, was 
the work of the week immediately succeeding the revolu- 
tionary one. The provisional authorities immediately com- 
menced repairing the mischief done in the " three days," 
taking freely into employment all workmen at that time idle. 
As an additional security, a " garde nationale mobile" of 
twenty-four battalions, to be clothed and paid by the state. 
Twenty thousand of the most indigent youth of Paris were 
quickly enrolled and marched off for the frontiers. Satur- 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 471 

day, March 4, was devoted to the funeral obsequies of those 
who had been killed among the people. The remains were 
wrapped in tri-coloured winding-sheets, and laid on fifteen 
open biers, each containing five or six bodies. The pro- 
cession moved from the Hotel de Ville to the Madeleine ; 
funeral rites were performed at the church ; then the pro- 
cession moved to the Place de la Bastile ; and finally the 
dead were deposited beneath the column of July. It was an 
interesting pageant. People assembled by myriads to gaze 
upon it. The day was beautiful ; and the bright sun shining 
on the clear outlines of the Grecian church, and glancing 
from the forest of bayonets glittering among hundreds of tri- 
coloured flags, formed a spectacle at once exciting and bril- 
liant. While standing in the centre, no end could be seen 
to the mass on either side. 

The procession from the church was led by national 
guards ; then Masters of Ceremonies followed ; then the 
Orpheonistes — pupils in classes on Wilhelm's system, with 
the Societe Musicale. These frequently sang, with an 
effect even sublime. Presently followed the clergy of the 
Madeleine, and the funeral cars containing the dead. As 
these passed, the "Marseillaise" was sung; one verse by 
the female voices alone, and then the chorus by men. As 
the hymn arose the crowd uncovered, and remained so till 
the cars, which were open so as to show the coffins under 
the palls, had passed. Other bodies followed, and then 
came the liberated victimes politiqites — among them, in 
carriages, the once Beau Barbes, now bent and worn by 
eight years' incarceration, and Hubert, both of them too 
weak for the fatigue of walking. More national guards 
succeeded, then the representatives of the various trades and 
callings, the families of the victims, members of the munici- 
palities, judges, freemasons, the pupils of the military schools, 
and the university, &o. To these succeeded such of the 
wounded as could bear the fatigue of the day; they were all 
young men. The cause for which they had fought was 
symbolized by the car of liberty, a colossal and gorgeously 
adorned vehicle, drawn by eight cream-coloured horses. 
This harmless exhibition was the only part of the pageant 
that bore any resemblance to the spuriously classical pomps 
of the first revolution. It is said that a bat never ceased to 
hover round the summit of the car during the whole proces- 
sion, until it arrived at the Bastile, where the creature dis- 



472 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

appeared, leaving the superstitious in a most amusing state 
of wonder and alarm at so dire an omen. 

The provisional government and the national guard closed 
the long line of march, which reached the column of July 
at five o'clock. In front of the column were erected two 
very lofty square altars, hung with black cloth set with sil- 
ver stars, and with the " sacred fire" burning on their tops. 
The bodies of the dead were consigned to the vaults, and 
the vast concourse dispersed, without a single untoward 
occurrence throughout the day. 

Impressive as was this scene, it had its incidents of folly, 
and theatrical heartlessness, equally with all the events of 
the revolution. In the first burst of enthusiasm, consequent 
upon the proclamation of a republic, the different persons 
appointed to register the victims' names had not had time 
to examine and verify each individual case submitted to 
them. This circumstance was taken advantage of by those 
having relatives lately deceased, who, by imposing on the 
committees, obtained burial for those dying a natural death, 
together with public support for their families. 

Another aff'air, of a somewhat similar nature, occurred on 
the 7th. The Tuilleries, it will be remembered, had been 
taken by an armed mob, many of whom had remained in or 
near it ever since the restoration of order. About two hun- 
dred of these self-possessors of national property, including 
among their number many malefactors of the blackest cha- 
racter, arrogated to themselves the title of "guards" of the 
Tuilleries ! They posted regular guards, sent for provisions 
and ammunition, and attempted something like social organi- 
zation. The authorities requested them to leave the palace ; 
but in vain. In the cellars were found excellent wines, and 
soon the charms of female society were added to their other 
enjoyments. The noise of balls, concerts, and similar enter- 
tainments, soon attracted the notice of the populace, who 
loudly expressed their indignation. The provisional go- 
vernment again requested the " guards" to leave the palace, 
but this they refused to do, except for a compensation of 
eighty thousand francs. This so exasperated the people, 
that they assembled in crowds outside, clamouring for the 
desired evacuation. At length Caussidiere, prefect of police, 
sent in a final summons to surrender. The garrison an- 
swered, that, having fifty rounds of ammunition to a man, 
they designed, in case of being attacked, to fire the buildings 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 473 

and then fight their way out. But on ascertaining that 
vigorous measures were in preparation against them, they 
lost courage, and agreed to capitulate. Fifty escaped during 
the night of the 6th ; carrying with them jewels and money 
to an immense amount. The remainder surrendered on 
the following morning. On the 24th of February, the mob, 
on that*same spot, had shot one of their number for attempt- 
ing to purloin a silver spoon ; now the same mob gazed 
half stupidly, half angrily, at scores of robbers, who had 
revelled for two weeks in a palace, and were now bearing 
away treasures which would have replenished a kingdom's 
treasury. 

After the restoration of peace, the new government turned 
its attention to the subject of electing permanent officers for 
the republic. The arrangements necessary to enable a na- 
tional election to take place constituted a gigantic task. The 
mode of ballot, the rate of representation, the naming of 
polls, and the qualifications of both voters and candidates, 
had all to be arranged for a population of some millions of 
freemen, unaccustomed either to choosing their rulers or 
ruling themselves. The 9th of April was at first named as 
the day of election, but this was subsequently changed to 
the 23d and 24th. The provisional government decided 
that the new constitution should be drawn up by a constituent 
assembly, to be elected by the people. A decree was ac- 
cordingly published, proclaiming that the election should be 
based on the number of the population; that the total num- 
ber of representatives should be nine hundred, including 
Algeria, and the colonies ; the representatives to be divided 
among the departments ; the suffrage to be direct and uni- 
versal ; every Frenchman twenty-one years of age to be an 
elector, unless deprived of civil rights ; every citizen twenty- 
five years old, to be eligible if in possession of civil rights ; 
that the ballot should be secret ; that all electors should vote 
at the principal town of their cantonment ; that each repre- 
sentative should receive during the session of the assembly 
twenty-five francs per day. 

Soon after the publication of this decree, two official cir- 
culars were issued on the same subject by M. Carnot, mi- 
nister of public instruction, and Ledru RoUin, member of 
the provisional government. The former was of an excep- 
tionable character, and met with general disapprobation. 
The other made an open appeal to the revolutionary flame 
40* 



474 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

still smothering, and declared that it was the duty of the 
people to elect a certain class from their own number, even 
though ihey would be obliged to resort to another overthrow 
of government. On the appearance of this dangerous paper, a 
deputation of the club appointed for the liberty of elections, 
waited upon the government to remonstrate against the doc- 
trine. Lamartine replied at considerable length, virtually 
disavowing the document. " The provisional government," 
he declared, " had not directed any one to speak in its name 
to the nation, and especially to speak a language superior to 
the law." Not long after a proclamation appeared in the 
name of the whole government, calculated to remove the bad 
impression caused by Ledru Rollin's circular. The cor- 
rection was ill received by the minister of the interior. This 
was palpably manifested during the deliberations of the pro- 
visional government, on the night of March 15th, when after 
making a proposition which was rejected, he threatened 
that unless it was reconsidered and agreed to, he would call 
in the people assembled in the court, and appeal to their 
sympathies. On hearing this, M. Gamier Pages immedi- 
ately arose, drew a pistol from his pocket, and declared that 
he would shoot Rollin through the head, should he attempt 
the execution of his threat. Here the matter dropped. 

But notwithstanding his unpopularity with the public mi- 
nisters, Ledru Rollin pursued his favourite schemes with 
unabated vigor ; and so well was he seconded by his agents 
in the different departments, that many of the latter were 
on the eve of plunging into a civil war. One of these 
functionaries assumed authority to double the taxes in 
Lyons, and prohibit all persons who left the town from 
carrying with them more than five hundred francs. The 
ultra-republican clubs in Paris, indulged in the most inflam- 
matory language, threatening to attack the national assembly, 
unless it should be entirely formed by men of their own 
party. Meanwhile the working classes, disgusted with the 
surrounding quietness, and craving excitement, amused them- 
selves by planting " trees of liberty," thrciughout Paris. 
Even the clergy joined in this work, sprinkling the roots 
with holy water, and performing other idle ceremonies. At 
night, houses were illuminated, volleys of artillery fired, and 
similar demonstrations made by the different mobs. The 
spirit of revolution and anarchy was kept alive by inflamma- 
tory addresses, posted throughout Paris, and appealing to the 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 475 

lowest feelings of the community. " The elections," ob- 
served one of these documents, " if they do not cause social 
truth to triumph — if they are but the expression of the inte- 
rests of a caste, extorted from the confiding loyalty of the 
people — the elections, which should be the safety of the 
republic, will be its ruin : of that there can be no doubt. 
There would be then but one means of safety for the people 
who made the barricades — it would be to manifest a second 
time its will, and to adjourn the decision of a false national 
representation. * * * * Paris looks on herself with reason, 
as the representative of all the population of the national 
territory. Paris is the advanced post of the army that com- 
bats for the republican idea. If anarchy works in the dis- 
tance — if social influences pervert the judgment or betray 
the will of the masses of the people, dispersed and scattered, 
the people of Paris believe and declare themselves guardians 
of the interests of the whole nation." 

The consequences of such appeals soon manifested them- 
selves. On Sunday, April 16th, an attempt was made to 
overthrow the moderate section of government, and substi- 
tute for it the so-called committee of safety. This plot was, 
however, defeated by the prompt and cordial support given 
to the cause of order by the national guard. As though by 
magic, two hundred thousand men, of all ranks and condi- 
tions, rallied around the government. At the same time, 
the great bulk of the working nxen of Paris, emphatically 
declared their adhesion to the honest and rational portion of 
the provisional government, thus separating their cause from 
that of the selfish demagogues, and spurious philanthropists, 
led by Ledru Rollin and others. This event proved the 
good policy of admitting the workmen into the national 
guards, since it is probable that in case of being excluded, 
they would have been made tools of the revolutionary fac- 
tions. Lamartine and his colleagues found their hands 
greatly strengthened, and were enabled to bring back the 
army to Paris, without danger to themselves, and with the 
entire approbation of the citizens. A still more formidable 
demonstration made by the clubs and "trades," was sup- 
pressed by the firmness of the national guard. No lives 
were lost. 

On Thursday, April 20th, the grand fete of fraternity 
to celebrate the return of ihe troops of the line to Paris 
took place. That day the city presented a sublime 



476 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

spectacle. Three hundred thousand armed men and as 
many spectators, were mingled together for seven or eight 
hours with the greatest cordiality. The illumination in the 
evening was brilliant and general — even the suburbs being 
lighted. 

Meanwhile, the election for representatives to the National 
Assembly had taken place, [April 23-4.3 They excited 
great and universal interest — there being reason to suppose 
that the republic was not as popular in the provinces as in 
Paris. Two great parties existed. One composed of 
moderate men, favourable to the republic, and opposed to 
the wild schemes of Ledru RoUin and others of his stamp ; 
the other denouncing Lamartine and the provisional govern- 
ment, demanding a common distribution of wealth for the 
whole nation, and interpreting the words liberty and equality 
to mean, the privilege of doing as they pleased, and of re- 
ducing all, except themselves, to poverty. Amid scenes of 
great excitement, the elections took place at the time ap- 
pointed. In several places disgraceful riots occurred, while 
in others, especially in Paris, thousands abstained from 
voting, thus proving, that although ready enough to take 
part in a military revolution, they cared little about any 
other manner of securing liberty. The republican party 
were eminendy triumphant. Late on Monday night, April 
24, the ballot boxes were closed, and the elections terminated. 
The general examination of votes was reserved for the 28th, 
when the senior mayor of Paris presided. The candidates 
who obtained more than two thousand votes were then pro- 
claimed by the mayor " representatives of the people." 
Their number had been previously fixed at nine hundred. 
Lamartine was elected by nine of the principal cities of the 
republic. The announcement of the names was received 
by the people amid the wildest shouts of enthusiasm. 

The 4th of May was the day chosen to publish to the 
people official notice of the new republic. On that day an 
immense multitude assembled at the Place de la Concorde, 
on the bridge, and around the national palace. At the re- 
quest of General Courtais, commander of the national guard, 
the whole assembly appeared before the people, and pro- 
claimed the republic amid the waving of innumerable ban- 
ners, the firing of artillery, and the shouts of the delighted 
multitude. A resolution passed the previous day to liberate 
all slaves, either in France or her colonies, and to deprive 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 477 

of citizenship any one engaged directly or indirectly in the 
slave trade was received with rapturous applause. 

On the following day, the assembly met at noon, and 
after receiving a verification of their powers, entered into 
an election for president. M. Buchez was chosen by a 
large majority. The members of the provisional govern- 
ment then appeared, and one by one submitted reports of 
their proceedings since the 24th of February. Their re- 
signations were then received, and the thanks of the country 
tendered to them. 

On the following Wednesday, the assembly appointed 
five of their number as an executive committee, to act in 
place of the provisional government. These names were 
Arago, Gamier Pages, Marie, Lamartine, and Ledru RoUin. 

Meanwhile, the doctrines of the ultra-republicans — the 
questions of socialism and communism had excited scenes 
of a rather serious character at Rouen, Elboeuf, and other 
manufacturing towns. In the former place, a report had 
been circulated that M. Deschamps, the communist candi- 
date, would not poll the number of votes necessary to his 
election, and in consequence groups of workmen began to 
collect, crying "Down with the National Assembly!" 
" Down with the aristocrats !" They were dispersed, how- 
ever, by the dragoons. The night passed away without 
any serious occurrence, but on the following morning the 
disorder was renewed with alarming violence. The people 
threw up barricades, skirmishes were carried on until sun- 
set, and at night the national guard were assaulted by volleys 
of stones. At length the troops fired, killing ten or twelve 
of the rioters, and by a vigorous charge compelling the re- 
mainder to disperse. On Friday the riots were renewed, 
and more blood shed ; but the soldiery having been rein- 
forced by the garde mobile of Paris, were enabled to restore 
order by Saturday morning. Twenty-two lives had been 
sacrificed. The avowed object of these movements was 
to bring about a reaction in the new republic, favourable to 
the dissolution of the then existent condition of society, and 
establish their absurd schemes of a community of goods and 
manners. Though often defeated, the advocates of this 
theory, led by the celebrated Louis Blanc and others, clung 
to their opinions with fanatical tenacity, and watched 
gloomily for the moment when they would be favoured 
by fortune to assert them with force of arms. 



478 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Armand Marrast. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

FRANCE UNDER THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.— REBEL- 
LION OF JUNE 1848. 

Yet famine, 
Ere clean it o'erthrow nature, makes it valiant : 
Plenty and peace breed cowards ; hardness ever 
Of hardness is mother. 

Shaksfeabe. 



The operations of the provisional government had been 
conducted in such a manner as to disarm in a great measure 
the bitterness of faction, and induce all parties to hope for 
the accomplishment of good to themselves. It was no 
doubt this hope — the expectation of good to follow — which 
contributed largely to- the maintenance of peace, and the 
abolition, to a great extent, of mob law. So long as the 



FRANCE UNDER THE ASSEMBLY. 479 

curiosity of men can be kept in a state of excitement, they 
may easily be persuaded to suspend darling designs, by the 
prospect of having them executed without trouble to them- 
selves. But no sooner did this state of suspense termi- 
nate — no sooner had the temporary government resigned in 
favour of the substantial one — no sooner had the long ex- 
pected relief gratified the hopes of one party, and blasted 
those of the other, than the restrained waters of commotion 
burst forth, fiercer, from accumulated strength, and swept in 
torrents through the populace, charged with all the rancour, 
prejudice, and revenge of incurable party hatred. Royalty 
had passed away as a by-gone tale ; the flag of the repub- 
lic floated in triumph over deserted palaces, and the shout 
for liberty, equality, fraternity, was on every tongue ; but 
republicanism was to have its day of darkness ; the song 
of freedom was to be changed for the yell of battle ; and the 
manes of royalty, rising dark and horrible over the ruins of 
thrones and sceptres, was yet to make one terrible struggle 
for revenge. 

The first serious outbreak occurred on the 15th of May. 
Early in the morning, the Paris clubs, and an immense 
assemblage of the people, met in the capital to express 
sympathy with the Polish patriots, who had lately attempted 
a revolution. The most inflammatory addresses were made, 
the National Assembly denounced, and red flags hoisted 
side by side with others bearing emblems of the feeling for 
Poland. They finally appointed a committee to present 
petitions to the assembly, requesting French intervention in 
the Polish quarrel. An immense crowd, numbering more 
than fifty thousand persons, followed the deputies to the 
national chamber. 

Meanwhile, the assembly had convened at noon, a num- 
ber of national guards being posted outside in order to pre- 
vent an outbreak. Discussions commenced on the relations 
with Italy and Poland ; but after some time they were inter- 
rupted by the noise of loud and prolonged shouting from 
outside. This became louder at every moment, until at 
length speaking ceased in the assembly, and was succeeded 
by the dread, fearful silence of men waiting some antici- 
pated though indefinite crisis. In a short time a violent 
knocking was heard at the door, which in a little while was 
forced open. Amid great agitation, M. Degousse ascended 
the tribune, and announced that the commander of the na- 



480 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

tional guards, General Courtais, had allowed the mob to 
pass his soldiers without the least interruption. The ex- 
citement following this declaration is indescribable ; but 
before the members could decide upon any course of action, 
the tribunes at the end of the hall were invaded by an over- 
whelming crowd, bearing banners and branches of trees, and 
shouting for Poland. Those in the galleries, including many 
ladies, rushed in one mass to the door, but the representa- 
tives entreated them by voice and signs to remain, as the 
mob outside would prevent all egress. M. Clement Tho- 
mas then ascended the platform, to present the petition, but 
could not be heard. M. Barbes, one of the leading sup- 
porters of the Communist party, followed, but his voice also 
was drowned in the tumult. A shot was heard outside, and 
a second crowd poured into the chamber, with deafening 
shouts, and were soon joined by numbers from the galleries, 
who descended from a height of forty feet, by sliding down 
the pillars. Men were knocked down and trampled on, the 
females rushed from the hall, the seats of deputies and re- 
porters were invaded, some of the representatives borne 
down by the press, and a scene of uproar and anarchy en- 
sued which no language can describe. The noise of the 
angry multitude resembled the loud thunderings of a cataract. 
At length the appearance of Louis Blanc near the president's 
chair, caused a slight cessation, which he improved by pro- 
posing that the petition in favour of Poland be read. Amid 
deafening cheers, M. Raspail then read the petition, the 
conclusion of which was received with shouts that lasted 
several minutes. M. Blanqui, a prominent member of the 
clubs, then succeeded in making himself heard. After ex- 
patiating on the necessity of France having a " strong will 
and a universal determination" manifested in favour of Po- 
land, he reverted to the massacres of Rouen, and demanded 
that the prisons of that city should be opened, and all per- 
sons confined there for the late disturbances set at liberty. 
He declared that the people had been neglected by the pro- 
visional government, and that the national assembly " must, 
without intermission, without stop, without manifestation 
of fatigue, continuously concert together to give work, to 
give bread to the people. After being rapturously cheered, 
he was followed by M. RoUin, who, after speaking of 
the justice of their demand in favour of Poland, and of 
the " admirable good sense of the people of Paris," de- 



FRANCE UNDER THE ASSEMBLY. 481 

clared that without doubt the assembly would bestow 
proper attention to the subject, and that consequently 
the people should withdraw. The latter request was re- 
ceived with murmurs of dissatisfaction, and cries of " Let it 
vote at once." " The matter has been sufficiently debated." 
" We have enlightened the assembly." After much con- 
fusion, M. Barbes again appeared in the tribune to address 
the crowd. " A fixed tax of a milliard," he said, " shall be 
levied on the rich to carry on the war with Poland." " All 
the cheers of the day," says an eye-witness,* " were mere 
trifles to that which now burst forth ; I thought it would 
never cease." Great confusion followed, amid which M. 
Hubert, a political prisoner under the former government, 
mounted the tribune, and cried, " Citizens, I proclaim in 
the name of the sovereign people of France, that the national 
assembly is dissolved." The scene following this annun- 
ciation is incapable of description. The mob was mad with 
ecstacy. Once commenced, the demand for redress knew 
no bounds. Another contribution of a thousand millions of 
francs was levied upon the rich for the benefit of the poor. 
An executive government, composed of Barbes, Albert, 
Louis Blanc, Flocon, Blanqui, Raspail, and Cabet, was im- 
mediately appointed. Finally, M. Barbes demanded the 
re-establishment of the guillotine. At that terrible word 
the dread spirit of anarchy rose with haggard aspect over 
Paris, and sent up a shriek of war and desolation at which 
France and Europe grew pale. 

As soon as the attack on the national assembly was known 
throughout Paris, the alarm drum calling the army together 
was beaten. With admirable promptitude the national 
guard rallied for the republic, crying that they had been be- 
trayed by their general. Two legions went towards the 
national assembly, and were joined by several of the repre- 
sentatives, asking arms. The remaining legions, with de- 
tachments of the "garde mobile," bodies of infantry and 
cavalry, and a battery of artillery proceeded to the Hotel de 
Ville, to capture the several " provisional governments" who 
had located themselves there. In the second legion were 
Lamartine and Ledru Rollin, side by side, on horseback. 
The people hailed them with enthusiasm, shouting for the 
assembly. After capturing about one hundred persons at 

• Correspondent of the New York Herald. 
41 2F 



482 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

the Hotel de Ville, they proceeded to the representative hall. 
The two distinguished members were almost borne in the 
arms of the multitude — M, Lamartine shaking hands with 
thousands on each side, and with tears in his eyes, thanking 
them for their devotion to liberty. Between six and seven 
o'clock, P.M., the legions outside of Paris entered it, by all 
the barriers, in order to offer their support to the national 
assembly. In a short time the mob were dispersed, and 
their most prominent leaders, Barbes, Albert, Blanqui, Ras- 
pail, and Sobrier thrown into prison. 

Quiet had scarcely succeeded these terrible commotions, 
when the citizens of Paris were summoned by government 
to the great national festival of Concord, in honour of the 
republic. It was held Sunday, May 21. The proces- 
sion moved from the Place de la Concord to the Champ de 
Mars. In front were the members of the provisional go- 
vernment, and representatives to the national assembly, fol- 
lowed by the mayor, M. Marrast, and municipalities of Paris, 
wearing tri-coloured scarfs ; then the delegates of the differ- 
ent departments from Calais to the Pyrenees, each with its 
appropriate banner ; the delegates of the emancipated blacks, 
and of the Germans, Italians, Belgians, and Irish. After the 
delegates marched the various trade corporations, with 
specimens of their respective productions, and occupying 
triumphal cars or other vehicles, each drawn by four horses. 
These were followed by the wounded of February, suc- 
ceeded by judges and members of the law courts in robes of 
office. Next, surrounded by flags, was the colossal statue 
of the republic, drawn by four horses, and followed by bands 
of choristers, chanting national or patriotic hymns. The 
latter included a party of five hundred young females, dressed 
in white muslin robes, with tri-coloured ribbons on their 
shoulders, and wreaths of flowers on their heads. They 
were followed by soldiers on foot and horseback ; pupils 
from the military schools ; cars emblematic of agriculture, 
the arts, sciences, and professions, with an endless variety 
of other gorgeous spectacles, moving amid strains of music, 
the booming of cannon, and the shouts of the populace. In 
the evening Paris was brilliantly illuminated. The Champ 
de Mars, Champ Elysees, and Tuilleries were lighted by 
half a million of coloured and ten thousand Chinese lanterns. 
The lights for this affair cost two hundred thousand francs, and 
twelve hundred thousand persons participated in the festival. 



FRANCE UNDER THE ASSEMBLY. 483 

This aifair was followed by serious disturbances with the 
workmen employed by government. With characteristic 
short sightedness, the public authorities had engaged so 
many of this class that in a very short time great financial 
difficulties were the consequence, and thousands were sud- 
denly discharged. This produced the usual consequences, 
so that it was found necessary to call out large bodies of the 
national guard. It was found on investigation that every 
species of roguery had been practised upon the government 
by many of the labourers. Many arrests were made, and the 
movement was, for the time, suppressed without bloodshed. 

A more serious demonstration ensued on the occasion of 
Prince Louis Buonaparte, nephew of the late emperor, being 
elected by some of the districts which had sent in double 
returns at the original elections. Although he was person- 
ally known to but a few of the population, and his election 
had been probably unknown to himself, yet such was the 
magic influence attached to his name, that he became in one 
short day, one of the most important men in France. On 
Sunday his name was echoed by all the holiday assemblies 
of the lower class, and the assembly began with justice to 
dread the popularity of so dangerous a member. On Mon- 
day appeared a new journal, entitled " The Napoleon," and 
devoted to the advancement of his cause. On the same day, 
crowds collected in the quarters leading to the national assem- 
bly, troops and national guards were called out, and all the 
excitement and commotion of a Parisian mob were brought 
into full developement, because — M. Louis Buonaparte was 
expected to take his seat in the national assembly. Many 
carried in front of their hats a ballot, on which was inscribed, 
in large letters, " Louis Napoleon ! long live the emperor ! 
down with the republic !" 

About five o'clock in the evening, the government issued 
orders of a decisive nature against the crowds assembled in 
the Place de la Revolution. Regiments of infantry and 
cavalry, with large bodies of the national guard, immedi- 
ately crossed the bridge in front of the Palace of the Assem- 
bly, and forming a junction with those already on the Place 
cleared it at the point of the bayonet. So rapid was the 
execution of this work, that though this Place is the 
largest in Europe, it was swept in five minutes. This done, 
a column of two thousand guards, after wheeling into order, 
moved in double quick time to the hotel of the minister of 



484 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

foreign affairs, and there halted. Meanwhile, the dragoons 
were advancing from the Place de la Revolution, driving be- 
fore them the people, who still cried, " Long live the em- 
peror !" The excitement continued for an hour or two after 
this; but ultimately the people retired after venting their 
displeasure in loud shouts. Later in the evening similar 
demonstrations took place, but were suppressed with but 
little trouble. Lamartine took advantage of the panic caused 
in the assembly by these proceedings, to propose that the 
laws of 1816 and 1832, forbidding the entrance of the Buona- 
parte family into France, should be enforced against the 
prince. The motion was adopted by acclamation — only to 
be repealed as hastily at a subsequent sitting. 

We now come to the opening of that terrible struggle 
which brought the working and middle classes of the repub- 
lic in direct collision, displaying Socialism in all its hideous 
deformity, and deluging the streets of Paris with brother 
blood shed by brother hands. Here the red flag of anarchy, 
carried by its hundred thousand worshippers, met and strove 
with the tri-colour of the republic ; and the history of that 
struggle will render the month of June, 1848, memorable in 
future history. Although differing so greatly in object, in 
the parties concerned, and in the final result, from the revo- 
lution of February, it was, however, the offspring of that 
movement ; and the connection between the two can be 
easily and distincdy traced. 

Three causes conduced to the victory of the lower order 
in February. These were their own united efforts, the 
co-operation of the military, and the apathy of the middle 
classes. But at the same time that monarchy was over- 
thrown, a difference displayed itself between the active and 
passive agents of the revolution. From the outset, the ope- 
rative and middle classes were at variance. They had em- 
barked in the revolutionary career from different motives. 
In their intentions, ideas, and aspirations, they were dia- 
metrically opposed. The working classes, or " Red Repub- 
licans," embued with the doctrines of communism, and 
demanding a regeneration of society, expected that the recent 
political change would be productive of a social revolution — 
that thenceforward the workmen of France would no more 
lack either occupation or adequate pay. But the middle 
classes did not share these ideas. Though conniving at the 
overthrowing of a corrupt monarchy because it was corrupt, 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 485 

they wanted no red flag to give rise to another " Age of 
Reason." To them the old tri-colour suggested ideas of 
poUtical, not social change ; — ideas of republicanism, as dis- 
tinguished from tyranny — of an elective president instead 
of an hereditary chief — and of the old social principles go- 
verning free as well as despotic states, which hitherto had 
been the guides of mankind in all the peaceful pursuits of 
modern civilization. 

These two principles were first brought into collision, in 
the hour of their combined triumph over monarchy. It was 
when the infuriated mob met at the Hotel de Ville and de- 
manded of the newly constituted provisional government, 
the red flag as the national ensign. In the midst of diffi- 
culty and dangers of the most appalling nature, and when 
thousands of weapons were brandishing around, Lamartine 
stood up against the significant demand, and by his eloquence 
induced the mob to furl its flag and adopt that of the nation. 
But while the emblem was discarded, the thought remained. 
The orator had touched the imagination, not the heart of the 
multitude. 

The provisional government was composed of men from 
each of the dominant factions. The Communists saw their 
opportunity, and improved it to the utmost, labouring as- 
siduously in council and in public, to set in operation a train 
of causes which might produce the anticipated social change. 
The people were informed that the revolution which they 
had wrought should this time be turned to their advantage ; 
and that though often deceived before, yet in future labour 
and wages should never fail the working classes. During 
the first few weeks of the republic, these ideas gained ground 
rapidly, and whether understood by the other members of 
the government or not, they were at least acquiesced in. 
The acts of the provisional government at this time dis- 
play a strange want of prudence and foresight. National 
workshops were established by unanimous consent. The 
tax-paying community, already overburdened, were further 
taxed in order to support them. Although trade was at a 
stand, and as a necessary consequence of the late convul- 
sions, the middle classes daily lost some portion of the 
rewards of industry, enterprise, and economy, yet the lower 
classes received high wages, and were supported at the 
national expense, either in total idleness or in work, which 
being of little or no advantage to government, soon became a 
41* 



486 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

public loss. The consequence was, that the workmen, flushed 
with success, flattered by all parties, and amused with fetes 
and festivals of the most gorgeous description, defended the 
new order of things with the same enthusiasm that had been 
so valuable in founding it. On the other hand, the middle 
classes — those engaged in trade and commerce — were unable 
to see the right of those who possessed nothing to live upon 
the substance of others. The dispute was not between 
republicans and monarchists, but between tradesmen and 
labourers. 

Matters were in this condition when the financial crisis 
ensued, and thousands of workmen were thrown simultane- 
ously out of employment, by the tottering government. The 
excitement attending this operation was fearful. The charm 
which had hitherto bound the lower orders to the provisional 
government was dissolved, and they were convinced that 
their rulers were either not able or not willing to revolution- 
ize society. The election of an anti-Communist national 
assembly convinced them that they had lost ground, and 
henceforth could expect little sympathy of operation with 
those who were to legislate in the name of the republic. 
Among the first fruits of their disappointed hopes was the 
rash and ill-conducted attempt of May 15, undertaken with 
the ostensible object of evincing sympathy for Poland. By 
a decisive exercise of their civil and military resources, the 
assembly broke up this plot, dispersed the mob, and im- 
prisoned its most active leaders. 

But notwithstanding this check, the flame of dissension 
continued to widen. One party prepared for a more vigor- 
ous attack, the other for sterner resistance. The object of 
the Red Republicans was to overthrow the existing govern- 
ment, and establish a republic of their own ; while the 
assembly resolved that if once called to arms by the faction 
of Communism, they would crush it for ever. The crisis 
was hastened by the necessity for disbanding the still large 
army of workmen — amounting to more than one hundred 
thousand men, and composed, not only of Parisian operatives, 
but of idle and dissolute adventurers, galley-slaves, and plun- 
derers, who, having flocked into Paris from all parts of the 
country, were consuming the vitals of the nation, at a 
moment when its strength was exhausted. The sincere 
operatives, aided by their villanous companions, entered 
into strict organization, appointed resolute commanders, and 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 487 

secretly, but effectually made all preparations for the final 
siruw-gle. 

The first hostile demonstration took place on Thursday 
morning, June 22d, when a considerable body of workmen 
appeared before the Palace of the Luxembourg, and requested 
an interview with the members of the executive government. 
M. Marie consented to receive a deputation of five delegates. 
This being appointed, the leader announced himself as one 
of those who had invaded the assembly, upon which M. 
Marie refused to hear him. He listened, however, atten- 
tively to the complaints of the other four, and then answered 
at some length, with the hope of persuading them not to be 
led astray by dangerous and disorderly people, whose object 
was to instigate a rebellion against both government and 
society. He assured them of the good intentions of the 
government, which was deeply interested in their welfare, 
and was at that moment seriously considering what could be 
done for their good. But so little were the deputation satis- 
fied by these assurances, that on returning to their compa- 
nions, they announced that they had nothing to expect, and 
that M. Marie had called them slaves. A scene of distress- 
ing excitement followed. Assembling in one mass, they 
moved up the Rue de Bac, crying "Down with Marie!*' 
" Down with the assembly !" " Down with the executive 
committee!" and chaunting in chorus, "We will remain," 
" We will remain," in allusion to their determination not to 
leave Paris and retire to their homes. At the Faubourg St. 
Antoine and the Faubourg St. Marian, the crowd greatly 
increased, numbers arriving from different quarters during 
the whole day. In the evening they stationed themselves 
at the Place de la Bastile, crying out from time to time, 
"Long live Napoleon !" " Long live the emperor !" "Down 
with Marie !" " We will remain." Fears were entertained 
that they designed an invasion of the assembly; but fortu- 
nately for that body, these proved groundless. But at half- 
past eight in the evening, about five thousand persons 
proceeded towards the Hotel de Ville, and thence to the 
Faubourg du Temple, for the purpose of joining the other 
party on the Place de Bastile. This movement created so 
much alarm, that additional military force was called out, 
and kept under arms all night. 

Early on the following morning, [June 23,] alarming 
reports of the progress made by the rioters began to be cir- 



488 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

culated throughout Paris. It was soon ascertained that they 
had thrown up barricades in every quarter of the city, and 
were preparing for a desperate struggle. An eye-witness 
thus describes the appearance of the principal streets : " I 
found the shops in the whole line of the Boulevards all 
closed, the streets crowded with people anxious to know 
what was doing, the drums under the escort of strong pickets, 
beating to arms, and strong bodies of national guards gather- 
ing on the Place de la Bourse and the Boulevards. On 
approaching the neighbourhood of the Porte St. Denis, I 
was surprised not to see a single soldier or national guard ; 
but, on the other hand, I was equally surprised to see seve- 
ral thousands of the conspirators in possession of the whole 
of the district, and already strongly intrenched in barricades 
of the most formidable description. Across the Boulevard, 
and quite close to the Porte St. Denis, was an immense 
barricade formed of four or five omnibuses, several carriages, 
a huge wagon, and paving stones, taken from the streets, 
which were torn up for a considerable distance on both 
sides. A little beyond the Rue St. Denis was another bar- 
ricade, fully as formidable as the first, and composed of 
pretty much the same miscellaneous materials ; and still 
further on towards the Porte St. Martin, was a third barri- 
cade, not quite so large as the first, but still sufficient to be a 
powerful defence against a storming party. The end of the 
Rue du Faubourg St. Denis, was also closed up with a huge 
barricade, which prevented the approach of troops from the 
outside. The Rue St. Denis, the Rue Villeneuve Bourbon, 
the Rue de Clery, and the other streets abutting on the spot 
in possession of the conspirators, were similarly defended ; 
and thousands of gamins [armed youth] were industriously 
working with pikes and spades, tearing up the streets and 
adding to the defences. The mere enumeration of these 
extensive works shows how much time must have been 
spent in their erection, and it is wonderful to think that the 
authorities, who had been forewarned of what was doing, 
and who have since shown so much alacrity, in calling out 
troops, should have allowed them to have been completed 
without interruption. The barricades were defended by 
some hundreds of people, many of \«hom were not armed, 
or at least did not show their arms. They had a great num- 
ber of tri-coloured flags stuck upon the top of the barricades, 
with different mottoes inscribed upon them. The Porte St. 



490 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




REBELLION OF JUNE. 491 

Denis, which was in the hands of the conspirators, was 
decorated with a black flag, and on the top of it were arrayed 
heaps of paving stones, apparently for the purpose of being 
hurled upon the heads of those who might attack it. The 
whole scene was a very curious and busy one. Every one 
seemed bent on completing the defences ; but there was no 
appearance of alarm, anger, or any excitement beyond that 
of their eagerness to complete their work." 

Before sunrise the general roll of the military drum was 
heard calling troops together from all parts of the city ; and 
soon dense columns of infantry were winding along the 
streets leading to the Porte St. Denis. At the same time, a 
strong body of troops of the line, with the second legion of 
the national guard, approached the barricades from the oppo- 
site side, thus surrounding the insurgents and cutting off all 
retreat. Immediately after a volley of musketry was poured 
upon the national guard, who returned the fire with spirit, and 
a sharp conflict commenced, which continued half an hour. 
At the same time, a battery of artillery was pouring heavy 
discharges of grape-shot into the barricades ; while on the 
other hand, fires of rifles and musketry were kept up upon 
the soldiers from the windows of houses on each side. 
Several were killed or wounded on each side, but the barri- 
cades were finally carried at the point of the bayonet. 

In this spirited conflict boys and even women participated, 
frequently appearing on the barricades waving flags and 
other emblems, having significant mottoes inscribed upon 
them. Several women were captured with the insurgents, 
and one or two afterwards killed. 

Meanwhile, the Hotel de Ville had been garrisoned by a 
large number of troops, who guarded all the streets leading 
to it, so as to prevent the erection of barricades. In the 
Rue St. Antoine, a barricade erected during the night was 
carried at the point of the bayonet ; and a like fate attended 
two others at the Palais de Justice. At the same time, the 
executive committee met at the Palais de Luxembourg, and 
were joined at ten o'clock A.M., by the president of the 
national assembly. Their most important act was the 
naming of General Cavaignac, then minister of war, as chief 
commander of all troops of the line, and other military forces 
in the department of the Seine. The general accepted the 
offer on condition of being allowed to take all steps of a 
military nature which he deemed proper, without inter- 



492 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Women at the Barricades near the Porte St. Denis. 



ference from the civil authorities. On Saturday, the insur- 
gents continuing their operations with obstinacy in the Fau- 
bourgs St. Marceau, St. Antoine, St. Denis, and several other 
points, the assembly declared Paris in a state of siege, and 
appointed General Cavaignac dictator. Before evening he 
had suppressed the insurrection on the left bank of the 
Seine and the Cite. But the most terrible struggle of this 
day was at the Clos St. Lazarre, on the right bank. Pre- 
vious to the assault. General Cavaignac renewed his 
command for all persons to remain at their homes. The 
assailants fought with a desperation rarely equalled. At 
four o'clock two hundred men of one battalion of the garde 
mobile had fallen. Colonel Mitchell, of the artillery, was 
wounded in the breast. At six o'clock, the national guards 
of Amiens, and some artillery, with General Lamoriciere, 
and M. Duconex, a representative, at their head, joined their 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 



493 




42 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 



495 




Death of M. La Roche. 

companions in a grand effort upon the Clos St. Lazarre. 
Previous to this, a party led by General Cavaignac in per- 
son, carried the first barricade of the Faubourg St. Antoine ; 
but all efforts to reduce the stronger position was vain. As 
an instance of the dreadful slaughter in this position, it is 
reported that of eight hundred men composing the seventh 
battalion of the garde mobile, only nine or ten escaped 
unhurt.* 

At this time the appearance of Paris was dreary in the 
extreme. At least three hundred thousand troops were 
under arms, against one hundred and twenty thousand of 
the insurgents. One-fourth of the city had either been ruined 
to build defences, or was so barricaded and garrisoned as 
to be utterly impassable. All day the heavy booming of 
cannon rocked the strongest buildings to their foundations ; 
while hundreds of dead and dying were borne through the 
streets or laid down to die. The hospitals seemed turned 

* On Sunday, at the barricade La Rochechouart, Roche, the editor 
of Le Pert Duchesne, was killed. He was summoned by the garde 
mobile to surrender, and having refused, the garde shot him in the 
head. In falling, a pistol, which lia Roche held in his hand, went 
off, and shot the garde mobile through the body. 



496 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

into charnel-houses. At night all the streets were guarded. 
Sentinels cried to each other from line to line, " Take care 
of yourselves." Persons walking in the streets were 
searched, and then escorted home. Sadness and horror 
were depicted in every countenance. 

Strange as it may seem, several of the public papers were 
at this time publishing articles calculated to infuriate the 
passions of the mob, and prolong the civil war. On ascer- 
taining this, General Cavaignac, with a firmness and prompti- 
tude which does him honour, immediately ordered their 
suppression, arresting at the same time citizen Girardin, 
editor of the " Presse." At the same time the publication 
of all placards on political subjects was strictly forbidden, 
unless emanating from the authorities. 

On this day (Sunday) the contest at the Pantheon was of 
the most determined character. During fifteen hours no 
cessation of the firing was perceptible. The attack was 
commenced by the eleventh legion, who after a gallant strug- 
gle, were obliged to give way. Two hours afterwards the 
garde mobile endeavoured to take the houses which sur- 
rounded it. Amid murderous discharges of grape-shot and 
musketry, these gallant youth pressed forward, until their 
loss became so great that they were forced to intrench them- 
selves in the Ecole de Droit. It was not until one o'clock, 
when the troops of the line arrived, that the combined forces 
succeeded in breaking through the railings of the Pantheon, 
and gaining the interior. This, however, was but a small 
part of the task. Several of the strongest barricades still 
remained to be attacked. For five hours more the artillery 
continued to be heard ; the slaughter on each side was ap- 
palling ; but eventually the coolness and perseverance of 
military discipline triumphed. At four o'clock the streets 
were free, and M. Payer, representative from the Ardennes, 
whose house had been invaded by the insurgents, succeeded 
in getting to the assembly. His details of the cruelties per- 
petrated by the mob are horrible. Several soldiers and 
gardes mobiles who fell into their hands, had their throats 
cut. A captain of cuirassiers had his hands cutoff; and an 
officer of rank, although severely wounded, was deprived of 
his feet, and then sent out on horseback. At the same time, 
it should be remembered, that many of these individuals 
were in a destitute and starving condition, driven to open 
resistance by bad men, who held out to them the most 



498 



history: OF FRANCE. 




REBELLION OF JUNE. 499 

powerful inducements. These wretched labourers fought 
on, hour after hour, without uttering a cry, and died without 
a groan. 

At this stage of the rebellion, the archbishop of Paris 
waited on General Cavaignac in person, and tendered his 
services to go among the insurgents and endeavour to restore 
order. The general gladly accepted the offer, and immedi- 
ately issued orders that every facility should be extended to 
the venerable prelate. The archbishop proceeded to the Place 
de Bastille, bearing with him a copy of General Cavaignac's 
proclamation for hosiiUties to cease. On his appearance, 
the firino- on both sides was suspended, and almost alone, 
he fearlessly ascended the barricade, and opened his laudable 
mission. During this cessation of hostilities the combatants 
unwittingly came within reach of each other, and began 
mutual accusations, which were followed by personal scuf- 
fles. Suddenly the firing recommenced. The prelate was 
thus placed between the two parties, and almost at the same 
moment, a shot from an adjoining window pierced him in 
the groin. His servant, in endeavouring to catch him, was 
wounded in the side. He was borne away by the soldiers, 
and expired on Tuesday morning, at eleven o'clock. No 
single event of this unhappy rebellion, caused so much 
regret among all classes as the fate of this noble servant of 
Heaven. The insurgents positively denied all intention of 
doino- him injury, and it seems almost certain that the fatal 
shot was directed by some careless person, firing at random. 

On Monday morning the conflict was renewed with des- 
perate valour on both sides. The principal scenes of action 
were the Faubourg St. Antoine, the Place Maubert, and the 
neighbourhood of the Pantheon. The former surrendered 
at discretion, at eleven o'clock. The other places were 
stormed, and the garrison of each killed or captured. The 
last barricade attacked was at the corner of the Rue de la 
Roquette. General Lamoriciere, after having captured all 
the barricades in the Faubourg du Temple, arrived at the 
Place de la Bastille, from which he attacked the enemy's 
works with cannon and shells. A shell falling on one of 
the adjoining houses set it on fire, upon which the insurgents 
fled. From that moment, all the efforts of the leaders to 
rally the mob were ineffectual. They fled to the Barriere 
de Menilmontant, and thence into the country. 

During the four days that this insurrection lasted, the loss 



500 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

on both sides was almost incredible. Twenty thousand 
killed and wounded is but a small estimate, since thousands 
of victims were no doubt concealed from the authorities. 
Paris, amid all her revolutions, never witnessed so much 
slaughter among her own citizens, as was perpetrated during 
these four days. Thousands of prisoners were taken by 
the military; while the government seemed as much embar- 
rassed as to the proper method of disposing of their cases as 
it had been in suppressing the riot. 

Amid all the trying scenes of the insurrection the courage 
and zeal of the members of the assembly were eminently 
conspicuous. We have already mentioned, that one of them 
was wounded in the early part of the fighting ; and in 
different parts of the city several were continually seen, 
either endeavouring to restore peace, or exciting the soldiers 
to duty. On one occasion, General Cavaignac, when in 
view of one of the nio.si obstinate struggles of the whole 
affair, was accompanied by Lamartine, Caussidiere, and 
Pierre Napoleon, all of whom acted, in a manner every way 
worthy of their high position in the public estimation. 

The remaining days of this week were occupied in bury- 
ing the dead, repairing damages done to the city, and re- 
establishing order. General Cavaignac resigned his absolute 
power to the assembly on the 29th, a measure which was 
hailed with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of feeling. 
He was immediately created president of state, with autho- 
rity to name his officers. The city gradually resumed its 
wonted cheer, and government proceeded to ascertain the 
prime leaders of the rebellion. In this, however, they have 
hitherto been unsuccessful, although many labour under heavy 
suspicions, even including several members of the national 
assembly. 

For a few days subsequent to the suppression of this 
rebellion, troops continued to pour into Paris, until their 
number finally amounted to nearly three hundred thousand. 
Many of the Jiattalions travelled on foot, carrying with them 
ammunition, clothing, and large stores of provisions. All 
these troops were subsequently reviewed by government, 
many receiving posts of honour, and all were treated in 
the most attentive and grateful manner. General Chan- 
garnier was appointed by the president commander-in-chief 
of the national guard. Soon after, for the further security 
of society, the assembly passed a resolution to establish an 



REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



601 




REBEiiLION OF JUNE. 503 

army of at least fifty thousand men around Paris, exclusive 
of the garde mobile, the republican guards, the gensd'arms, 
and several thousands of artillery men. On assuming com- 
mand, General Changarnier reprimanded one battalion of 
infantry, broke a colonel and five captains, and dissolved 
their companies, for surrendering to the insurgents. 

The resolution and promptitude displayed by General 
Cavaignac, vs'hile endeavouring to suppress the latent seeds 
of revenge and insurrection, were most admirable and praise- 
worthy. On the night of July 11, he received notice of 
another contemplated rising among the disaffected, and im- 
mediately despatched a sufficient force against some of their 
leaders, who were captured. In several places papers were 
found among the workmen containing inscriptions — " Fifty 
francs for the head of a garde mobile, forty for soldiers of 
the line, thirty for a national guard, and twenty for a guardian 
of Paris." Guards were placed throughout the length of 
every street, to prevent the assassination of citizens ; but at 
the same time every liberty was given consistent with the 
security of society from violence and pillage. Yet strange 
as it may seem, many were still anxious to renew the late 
struggle, and sought every opportunity to elude the presi- 
dent's vigilance, while prosecuting their seditious schemes. 
Monarchists and anarchists, foreign agents and the disaffected 
at home, united their sympathies with the rioters, and em- 
ployed assassins, convicts, and maniacs to carry out their 
views. But to each and every emergency General Cavaig- 
nac showed himself fully equal ; and the insurrectionists 
became daily convinced of a lesson they had needed for 
years — that they were under the authority of one who, dis- 
carding all false fantasies about freedom, and rising by 
untiring energy above a slavish deference to popular opi- 
nions, was determined to make law and order the basis of 
French government. 

On the 15th of July, Lamartine, in a great speech before 
the committee of foreign affairs of the national assembly, 
triumphantly vindicated the foreign policy of the provisional 
government, and refuted the base slanders which, since the 
revolution, had been heaped upon him. With respect to 
the vexed relations with Spain, he says : " From the time 
of Louis XIV. to JNapoleon, and down to Louis Philippe, 
all the attempts of France on Spain have brought ruin on 
our diplomacy. Our treaties, our alliances, our armies, 



504 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

have always come back to us in tatters or cut to pieces. 
Spain is not the road to the grandeur of France ; she can 
g'ive us no aid on the seas, since she has only ports that ai'e 
empty, deserted arsenals, and some dismantled frigates at 
Carthagena; she can furnish us no auxiliaries by land, for 
it is never on the side of the Pyrenees that the existence of 
France can be threatened. Speaking in a diplomatic sense, 
vv^e cannot and we ought not to see in her but one sole 
action — the action of a friendly country ; but we ought not 
to mix ourselves up with her government or her internal 
factions. Every other diplomacy in Spain is a deception, 
where much may be lost and nothing gained ; and a useless 
and dangerous occasion of coolness and rival influences with 
England. Would you have the proof that this diplomacy 
is the best for an influence ? If you would, look at what 
has passed. I instructed our agents in Spain to pursue the 
policy I have adverted to. I recommended them not to mix 
themselves up with any intrigues in Spain, and to abandon 
affairs to themselves. What has been the result? Why, 
that at the end of three months England has lost there all 
the ground she thought she had gained, and that in spite of 
the dynastic sympathies, which declared themselves at first 
against the republic, the favour of the government and the 
nation has. returned of itself, as a matter of justice, to con- 
fidence and good relations with us." 

In another part of this able speech is the following noble 
language : — " One word in reply to a reproach which cut 
me to the heart, in the speech of M. Napoleon Buonaparte. 
He said, 'The republic has no policy — no foreign diplomacy. 
I prefer ray bad policy to no policy at all. There are poli- 
tical follies which are glorious, which sometimes save the 
people, or at least do honour to the people whom they de- 
stroy.' He referred, to justify his declaration, to the four- 
teen armies of the convention, and the great wars of that 
heroic epoch of crisis and of glory. But he has forgotten 
one thing — that in the midst of its energies the convention 
was full of wisdom and moderation towards those nations 
and governments which did not attack France ; and that it 
had, and preserved allies, not only amongst the republics, 
but absolute sovereigns ; that it did not carry war into 
countries gratuitously, which had offered it peace; that its 
policy of fourteen armies was not a policy of choice, but of 
necessity and despair ; and that in this despair and necessity 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 605 

alone, did the convention find, relying on the nation, the 
energy to raise these fourteen armies, and to bring about the 
triumph of the republic and French nationality. It was not 
the diplomacy of the convention, it was its heroism, it was 
the desperate heroism of the country. We are not in the 
same circumstances, thanks to the wisdom of that very 
policy you accuse ; but if we should be, we would find the 
same energy and the same support from the nation. As to 
the diplomacy of Napoleon. I am an admirer of all con- 
nected with him but two things — his idea of legislative 
organization at home, and his diplomacy abroad. As to his 
legislative idea, it was only a sublime but unintelligent re- 
action, in my opinion, against the democratic party, that he 
would regulate and restrain, but not destroy. All these 
institutions were opposed to revolution — the age and liberty. 
As to his diplomacy, it was only the diplomacy of the can- 
non. He tore the map of the world without one attempt to 
restore it; he mutilated with the sword all the nationalities, 
and all the natural alliances of France, without thinking of 
the morrow. After so much blood was spilled, and so much 
glory acquired, what remained to us ? Only his name. As 
to France, when she looked around her she found herself 
abandoned, suspected by all governments, odious to all na- 
tions ; with Poland, whose liberties she held in her hand, 
more enslaved than ever ; with Italy, which she had occu- 
pied for ten years, without having done more than accus- 
toming her to change of servitude, and without having 
implanted a single vital germ of independence. With Spain, 
animated by remembrances against us of an atrocious war ; 
with Germany, violated and usurped in all its territories ; 
with Russia, incensed even to her deserts ; with Europe, in 
short, charging all her defeats and all her resentments to the 
account of France. This may be called glory, I admit; but 
if it be called diplomacj'', it is at least a diplomacy that the 
republic should not imitate with my consent, so long as I 
shall have a voice in its councils. The republic of the 24th 
of February boasts of another diplomacy than that of the 
convention and empire — than that of despair or conquest. 
The influence acquired in four months by France, the im- 
possibility of seeing again formed against her a coalition, 
unless she herself renew it with her own hands, attests, 
whatever M. Napoleon Buonaparte may say, that there is a 
policy as democratic as national ; a policy as firm as mode- 
43 



506 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

rate. It is this policy that the government of February has 
inaugurated, and of which I have no doubt the present 
government will follow the great outline, and the auspicious 
traditions." 

The 14th of July had been appointed for the holding of a 
great banquet, at which two hundred thousand workmen 
were to participate. Its occurrence was prevented by dis- 
closures of the most fearful nature, which, though perhaps 
exaggerated, display in a forcible manner the condition of 
the French community at that time. General Cavaignac 
was informed that upon a given signal, the members of the 
national assembly and heads of government were to be 
massacred, and the whole city was to be seized by the in- 
surgents. The consequences of such a plot being successful, 
may be imagined. The slaughter of the government offi- 
cers would have momentarily paralyzed the people, the 
guards, and perhaps the army itself, thus affording the in- 
surgents time to barricade the city, gain the chamber of the 
national assembly, and fortify themselves. At the same 
time, the masses, filled with wine and excitement, would 
have carried pillage and desolation throughout Paris. 

Such was the terror inspired among all classes by rumours 
of these designs, that General Cavaignac experienced the 
utmost difficulty in convincing the inhabitants that the means 
of government were sufficient to protect them. The excite- 
ment was increased by the occasional appearance at night 
of signals, similar to those observed previous to the rebellion 
of June. These were generally made by flashes of powder, 
on the tops of houses, or from the windows of upper stories ; 
and although each building where this occurred was quickly 
searched, the actors very often escaped. Soldiers were sta- 
tioned throughout Paris, spending the day on guard, and 
sleeping in the streets at night, with loaded guns and bayo- 
nets charged. 

Immediately after this occurrence, government passed a 
stringent law against the numerous clubs of Paris, which 
had lately assumed an attitude which endangered the exist- 
ence of society, the members either carrying arms them- 
selves, or exciting an armed resistance against every measure 
not in accordance with their views. By the new act, all 
clubs were to make known their existence to government, 
(if new ones, forty-eight hours before the time of organiza- 
tion,) with their times and places of meeting; that they 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 507 

should keep a record of their proceedings, which was to be 
open to inspection ; reserve one-fourth of their seats for 
strangers ; have a government officer always present, dressed 
in his uniform, who was to have a seat reserved for him, and 
power to insert in the journal such words and opinions as 
he thought proper; and that all communication from club to 
club, should absolutely cease. These regulations produced 
the desired effect ; and the efforts of the president, cordially 
aided by those of the national assembly, rendered the city 
more tranquil than it had yet been since the days of Napoleon. 

In taking a review of the various incidents and episodes 
attending this rebellion, no one appears more singular or 
lamentable than the death of the archbishop of Paris. The 
details of this melancholy affair, as gathered from the narra- 
tives of eye-witnesses, may not be inappropriate in this place. 

On Sunday evening, the prelate, accompanied by two of 
his vicars-general, proceeded from the place of his interview 
with General Cavaignac, to the Place de la Bastille, where 
the combat still continued. In his progress he was sur- 
rounded by citizens, soldiers, and women, who, falling on 
their knees, implored his benediction, and invoked the bless- 
ings of heaven on his head. Some, however, more prudent 
than the rest, represented to him the danger which he would 
incur, without, perhaps, effecting his design. The arch- 
bishop answered, " It is my duty to offer up my life." It is 
said that he frequently repeated to himself — " It is well for 
the pastor to sacrifice himself for his flock." 

On reaching the scene of combat, he requested the colonel 
commanding to suspend his fire for a few minutes, hoping 
thereby, that the insurgents would do the same, and he 
might take advantage of the temporary truce to open a par- 
ley with them. The colonel assented, and immediately after 
the insurgents stopped their fire, and moving to the top of 
the barricade, held the butt-ends of their muskets in the air. 
The archbishop, with his two vicars-general, M. Jacquemet 
and M. Ravinet, advanced towards the works, preceded by 
a person carrying in his hand the branch of a tree, by way 
of reconciliation. Many of the rioters then descended into 
the street, some appearing peaceably inclined, others with 
menace in their features and language. With a misguided 
zeal, many of the prelate's friends now approached, fearful 
of his receiving injury from those who had shown them- 
selves deaf to every former overture of peace. This was 



508 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

contrary to the archbishop's express command, and the 
consequences which he had foreseen soon followed. Re- 
proaches and threats were exchanged, and personal struggles 
took place, the disastrous consequences of which the two 
ecclesiastics sought to prevent, in the name of religion and 
of the prelate, who had come to stop the effusion of blood. 

Amid these altercations, which seriously delayed the ac- 
complishment of the mission, a musket was unexpectedly 
discharged. Although it was not known on which side this 
had taken place, nor whether it was intentional or not. It 
was the signal for the immediate resumption of hostilities. 
Cries of "Treason," "Treason," arose on all sides; the 
combatants retired, and the firing began more severe than 
ever. The archbishop was thus placed between two fires. 
He displayed no alarm, and it is reported did not attempt to 
escape either to the right or left. Advancing towards the 
barricade, he, in company with the vicars-general, mounted 
it, and was thus in full view of both parties and exposed to 
their fire. Balls were whistling in every direction, and one 
of his attendants received three balls through the hat. The 
voice of the archbishop was drowned in the uproar of battle, 
and after using every means to induce a second suspension 
of hostilities, he descended into the street. He had scarcely 
done so, when a ball pierced him in the loins, and at the 
same time his servant, in endeavouring to catch him, was 
wounded in the side. The fatal ball was thought to have 
been sent from a window adjoining, but this is uncertain. 

His fall produced the deepest sensation throughout each 
army. The insurgents ran to his assistance, and carrying 
him to the hospital of the Quinze Vingts, placed a guard 
over him. Their whole number present signed a declaration 
that he had not been shot by those on the barricade with 
him — a point which they appeared very anxious to establish. 
There is reason to believe that the occurrence hastened the 
restitution of order, for in an hour's time the firing ceased, 
not to be renewed. 

The calmness and serenity which had attended the arch- 
bishop before the barricade, did not leave him after his being 
wounded. On being informed by M. Jacquemet that his 
wound was serious, he asked — "Is my life in danger?" 
" It is," was the reply. " Well, then," replied the arch- 
bishop, " let God be praised, and may He accept the sacri- 
fice which I again ofier him for the salvation of this misguided 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 



609 




Monseigneur Affre, ArchbiBhop of Paris. 



people. May my death expiate the sins which I have com- 
mitted during my episcopacy." He afterwards confessed, 
and received the sacrament of extreme unction, preserving 
throughout his sufFerings admirable presence of mind, and 
expressing his satisfaction at accomplishing what he called 
his duty. 

On Monday morning he was carried to his palace ; and 
as he passed through the streets, the people fell on their 
knees with a feeling of veneration. He was escorted to his 
residence by a party of the garde mobile ; and an interesting 
anecdote is told of one of these youth. The prelate had 
observed him at the barricade, fighting most bravely ; and 
now, beckoning him to approach, he detached a small cross 
from his own neck, and suspending it to that of the young 
man, said, " Never part with this cross — place it near your 
heart ; it will bring you happiness." Soon after his arrival 
at his palace, in the Isle St. Louis, the archbishop expired, 
blessing all around, and praying that his blood might be the 
last shed under such circumstances. 
43* 



610 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




General Negrier, 



On the Sabbath following, the body was laid in state at 
the palace, arrayed in the arch-episcopal robes, and sur- 
rounded with insignia of office. It was visited by thousands 
of people. Mass for the repose of the soul was performed 
in all the Catholic churches of Paris, and in several of those 
in London. 

Another sincerely lamented victim of the rebellion was 
General Negrier. The gallant and dignified bearing of this 
officer, his honourable character, the urbanity of his man- 
ners, and his great personal bravery, made him a favourite, 
not only among the large circle of his immediate acquaint- 
ances, but also in the national assembly, of which he was a 
member, and in which at the time of his death, he filled i"he 
office of questor. 

General Negrier was born in Portugal of French parents, 
and during the occupation of the peninsula by the French, 
under the empire, Marshal Lannes, who look a strong inte- 
rest in young Negrier, sent him to France, under the care 



REBELLION OF JUNE. 511 

of his ai(]-cle-camp, Gederal Subervie, who was recently 
minister of France in the provisional government. Having 
entered the army, he rose through the various subordinate 
ranks to that of General of Division, a promotion well 
earned by active services in the field. 

When the dangerous character of the rebellion in June 
became fully understood, General Negrier, with character- 
istic devotion to duty, imm-ediately offered his services in 
defence of order. During the sanguinary conflict, he fought 
at several points, obtaining at each the most signal success. 
By Sunday evening, [June 25,] with his detachment of the 
line and national guards, he had (h-iven all opposition before 
him, and carried barricade after barricade, near the Hotel de 
Ville. He then proceeded by the quays towards the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine, to act against the insurgents strongly 
posted in that vicinity. While advancing towards a barri- 
cade at the head of his men, he was struck by a ball, and 
fell dead. At the same time, General Charbonnel, also a 
member of the assembly, was mortally wounded by his side. 

The funeral service for the general was performed on 
Saturday morning, July 1, in the church of St. Gervais. 
General Perrot, with several other officers, and a number 
of the members of the national assembly, were present. 
The state defrayed the expenses. As he had left a widow 
and two children unprovided for, the national assembly, on 
Thursday, the 29lh of June, had decreed, that in addition to 
the usual pension of five hundred francs, Madame Negrier 
should receive an annual grant of three thousand francs, 
reversible in equal shares to the two children. It was also 
ordered that the general's heart should be deposited in the 
Invalides, at Paris, and his body taken to the city of Lisle, 
which claimed it. After the conclusion of the funeral cere- 
monies, detachments of the line, of the garde mobile, and of 
the national guard, both from Paris and the departments, 
escorted the body to the end of the northern railway, whence 
it was taken to Lisle. 

An account of the rebellion in June could not be closed 
better than in the words of the following extract, in which 
the author describes the strength of one of the insurgents' 
positions : 

" When those who have been at Waterloo learn that for 
more than a mile the wall of the city of Paris was as pro- 
fusely furnished with loop-holes as was the garden wall of 



612 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

Hougnemont, they will easily imagine how formidable was 
the obstacle it presented. The barricades in advance were 
composed of paving stones of a hundred weight each, or of 
the cut stones for a hospital in progress of erection, and they 
were protected by houses adjoining to or commanding them, 
and as occasion presented itself throughout Saturday and 
Sunday, a constant, unerring. and deadly fire was kept up on 
the assailants by an almost invisible garrison. What will be 
the feeling of all military men when they are told that the 
whole of these works were defended by between eighty and 
one hundred and fifty insurgents !* How many of the in- 
surgents were killed on Sunday at the Barriere Rochechouart, 
think you, while the loss of the armed force was more than 
one thousand ? Two — one of them shot through the brain 
while firing through a loop-hole not six inches in diameter. 
Five were wounded. They ran from loop-hole to loop-hole 
with the greatest agility, leaving the cover of the high wall 
only to seek ammunition. I was shown the mark of the 
crucible under the wall, in which they melted lead for bul- 
lets, during the fight. They even attempted to fabricate 
gun powder. Against these men were brought as fine an 
army and as serviceable a park of artillery as the world 
could produce, and nothing less would have suflSced to dis- 
lodge them, unless their position had been turned, and they 
were attacked in the rear. Let us recollect also, that on 
eight hundred other points of Paris, the troops were occu- 
pied in contending with the rebels, at the same moment, 
and how this must have embarrassed the general ; that the 
usual means of obtaining information were not available. 
nor when information was obtained could it be relied on. 
When these facts are taken into consideration, there will 
not be so much surprise at the offensive and defensive efforts 
of the rebels, who, though comparatively few in number, 
were intimately acquainted with the ground, strongly forti- 
fied, and above all, supported by the sympathies and the 
positive co-operation of the whole population of the con- 
tinuous line of town that borders the outer boulevard." 

* This is doubtless a mistake. The author had either under- 
rated the actual force, or been deceived as to the numbers. Few 
barricades were destitute of several thousand defenders. The 
writer, however, may possibly allude merely to the most influ- 
ential, excluding masses of the population, of whom he afterwards 
says that they lent their " sympathies and positive co-operation." 



